Naboche is the last great pasture for merchants' pack animals before beginning the cross over high passes to Tibet. The Nepali name for the Great Pasture, which became also a marketplace due to so many merchants camping there, is Namche Bazaar. The Nepali language name for Zhung Gompa is Jun-beshi. High Religion by Ms. Sherry Ortner gives a detailed description of Sherpa history, as told by educated Sherpa lamas. For more good books on Sherpa culture, please see the Sherpa Books Section at the online Himalayan Bookstore .
Clan identity is inherited through the father.
For example, a Lama cannot marry another Lama, but a Lama is free to marry a member of any of the other seventeen clans. Other clans use their own clan name as surname - e.g., Lama, Nawa, Pinasha, Chusharwa, etc. By knowing a Sharwa person's ru, you will know their family and village roots back at least 400 years. Sherpas often apply unique Sharwa pronunciations and meanings to original Tibetan words, so that Tibetan and Sharwa expressions can be mutually unintelligible. There is some discussion of rehabilitating Sherpa language by introducing Sherpa school children to reading and writing in the Tibetan script.