By: Emily M. Olson
TibetFest 3, a celebration of Tibetan culture, will be held this year at the Goshen Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday. It’s a new venue for the annual event, which was previously held at the White Memorial Foundation’s preserve in Litchfield, but has grown to the point where the fairgrounds is a better location.
“It has grown, and it’s a beautiful campus at White Memorial, but we had people walking through the grounds who were hiking, so it was hard,” said event organizer Michelle Weik. “We needed a place we could secure.”
Several thousand people attended TibetFest 2 last year, and Ms. Weik expects even more this weekend.
“This year, people are traveling further, and many more Tibetans are coming from New York City, where there’s a large population of Tibetans,” she said. “I know of a Tibetan from San Francisco who is coming to participate. He called and asked some questions, and he said he’s coming, and I’ve had calls from people in Ohio, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Virginia. And a lot are coming in groups, which is great.”
Ms. Weik, who was first fascinated by the country of Tibet as a 10-year-old girl, poring over a photograph in a social studies book, has visited the country and heard the painful, horrific stories of a peaceful people living under oppressive Chinese rule for decades.
The mission of TibetFest is to raise awareness of the plight of Tibet; one marked by over fifty years of oppression and genocide due to China’s brutal occupation of Tibet. Funds raised at this event will be directed to the performing artists and organizations that support the Tibetan cause.
TibetFest provides a platform where Tibetans can promote and preserve their endangered culture by sharing it.
“I’ve been involved in the Tibet movement for years,” she said. “I was intrigued by it when I saw a photo of a Tibetan nomad in a social studies book, and I read anything I could get my hands on. Over the years I just continued to do that, and I traveled to Tibet and spent six weeks in the Himalayas, traveling between four different countries. I saw the oppression and the destruction of monasteries, which were in ruins, and the Chinese military were everywhere.”
“If people stopped to talk to me, they’d gather around, and the soldiers would ‘shoo’ them away,” she remembered. “They were just being curious but they weren’t allowed.”
TibetFest 3 will present prominent Tibetan musicians from Switzerland and across the U.S., including Techung, Phurbu, Loten, Penpa Tsering, Tenzin Kunsel, and more. The festival will also feature Tibetan handicrafts, Tibetan and other food vendors, a photo exhibit by Sonam Zoksang, thangka painters, Tibetan yaks, traditional dance, and a book signing and talk by Tom Laird, author of “The Story of Tibet.”
Tibetan artisans from Nepal will include demonstrations of Tibetan carpet weaving, traditional Tibetan clothing, information booths of various Tibetan organizations including Students for a Free Tibet, Tibet Aid, The Children’s School of Western Tibet, Tibetan Village Project and more. Gyuto monks of the Wheel of Dharma Monastery in Minneapolis will create a sand mandala beginning a few days prior to the festival, which the public is invited to view. Techung will lead a traditional circle dance at the end of the program each day.
The efforts led by these enterprising groups, who work to educate the public and raise money as well as awareness, have been successful in some ways, but there is still tremendous oppression and hardship there.
“There are certain educational opportunities for children there, but he situation itself is so volatile,” Ms. Weik said. “I was on a Web site [just recently] that said that the Chinese are cracking down on the Tibetans again, with a heavy hand.
“The most recent event that sticks out in my mind is last November, when a group of 40 Tibetans were trying to flee on foot, and it was captured on film by a group of Romanian mountaineers on an expedition,” she continued. “During the video, you see one of the Tibetans drop, and it turns out that a 14-year-old nun was killed by the Chinese border patrol. One Tibetan escaped, and made it to the mountaineers’ tents, where they gave him food. I think he might be in the United States now, I’m not 100 percent sure. The others were captured by the border patrol and taken back, and they’ve not been heard from since.”
Ms. Weik said the knowledge of what Tibetans experience makes her furious.
“Knowing the Tibetans, having seen Tibet, and just knowing they’re probably the most peaceful people on this planet, that they remain steadfast and they won’t fight back, well, it makes me cry. It reduces me to tears.”
She knows many men and women who escaped their homeland, and many of them attend the festival each year. “Last year I had the opportunity to hear a private concert, with 25 or 30 Tibetans,” she remembered.
“I looked into each face, and I know some of their horrific stories, I was reduced to tears. One of the performers asked me why I was crying, and I said, I’m sad you can’t live in your homeland and sorry for all that you’ve endured.
One woman, a popular singer in Tibet, fled on foot, five months pregnant, in the dead of winter. Another talented decorative artist names Samten Dakpa, had his left hand disfigured by Chinese soldiers who burned him. And still another found his father’s body hanging in his own village when he was only 7. Years later, that young man was bayoneted by soldiers. He eventually escaped, and now lives in Boston.
“As a direct result of the occupation, 1.2 million Tibetans have died, by starvation, execution, torture or suicide, and thousands try to flee every year,” Ms. Weik said. “And many die trying, or ended up with frostbite, because it’s a terrible trek through the Himalayas.
“I drove through that region and I thought about the Tibetans who made that journey on foot, in the winter.”
She’s looking forward to the weekend, especially as she mourns the recent death of her mother, Grace Litke, who attended the first TibetFest in 2005 and was extremely proud of her daughter for her efforts.
“It’s been a rough month,” she said. “But there’s an important mission behind this, and it’s a great opportunity too. A woman I know thanked me, and said it’s like being in Tibet here. They can connect to everything they’ve left behind.”
TibetFest 3 will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Goshen Fairgrounds beginning at 10 a.m. For more information contact Michelle at 860-567-0086 michelleweik@optonline.net, or contact the Northwest CT Convention and Visitors Bureau at 203-597-9527 or 888-588-7880. Or visit www.TibetFest.com or www.northwestct.com.
