Gyaca wooden bowls

The Shannan district is most well known for its production of Tibetan wooden bowls, and Gyaca County is the most prevalent for production of high quality wooden bowls. Most of the Gyaca wooden bowls are produced using walnut trees and this is mainly because of the texture and appearance of them and at the same time the area has been making products using walnut trees for thousands of years.

The wooden bowl production method is generally passed down from generation to generation. The process can be divided into five parts: the first part is going into the mountains to select lumber while large and knobby trees are best for usage, and other than that are chosen based upon the segment of the tree, the soil and fertilizer applied and whether or not they have been air and based on this to make the billet, run it through the rough grinding machine and finally refine and color it.

According to variations in the production materials and production craftsmanship the wooden bowls will be distinguished either as ordinary ones or precious ones; and according to the method of production itself the bowls will be distinguished for usage by men or women; and in the aspect of applications, it can be used to take a bowl of tsampa, drink butter tea or for drinking alcohol or as storage of food bowls etc.

Wooden bowls are an important object in the daily life of Tibetans inside the borders of Gyaca county. Whether headed up the mountain or going down to work, and no matter how far one may be going, a wooden bowl will always be taken and can be used at any time to drink tea or have tsampa. When going out or being a guest at someone else’s house one will take their wooden bowl and will ask the host to give them some tea, tsampa or rice to eat and in such cases will never be considered rude.