Tibetan New Year

Happy Losar! Tibetan New Year!

Tibetans follow a lunar calendar, so the date of Losar changes from year to year. This year it is late, March 2nd.

The word ‘Losar’ is a Tibetan word for New Year. ‘LO’ means year and ‘SAR’ means new.

The celebration of Losar can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist period in Tibet, when Tibetans practiced the Bon religion. Every winter a  ceremony was held in which people offered incense to appease the local spirits, deities and protectors. This religious festival later evolved into an annual Buddhist festival which is believed to have originated during the reign of Pude Gungyal, the ninth King of Tibet. During the month before Losar, eight auspicious symbols are drawn on walls with white powder in Tibetan households. In monasteries, the several protector deities are honored with devotional rituals. The day before New Years Eve, fireworks were seen at dusk. This is a photo of the Potala Palace from my window.                                                                                                               

On the last day of the year (last Saturday), monasteries were elaborately decorated. In homes, cakes, candies, breads, fruits and beer are offered on family altars. They clean their house carefully ( I've seen many garbage piles around here), and the men take a bath. Everyone wears new clothes, and its been fun seeing many people, especially children, proudly wearing bright traditional clothing and hats. At midnight, fireworks exploded from all over Lhasa - I counted 12 sites from my window.

Sunday Lama Losar: The devout Tibetan Buddhist begins the new year by honoring his or her dharma teacher. Guru and disciple greet each other with wishes of peace and progress. It is also traditional to offer sprouted barley seeds and buckets of tsampa (roasted barley flour with butter) and other grains on home altars to ensure a good harvest. Even the bus drivers wore decorated fur hats. People were wishing everyone Tashi Delek -- "auspicious greetings"; loosely, "very best wishes."

Day 2: Gyalpo Losa or "King's" Losar, is for honoring community and national leaders. Long ago it was a day for kings to hand out gifts at public festivals. Day 3: Choe-kyong Losar: On this day, laypeople (usually men) make special offerings to the dharma protectors. They raise prayer flags from hills, mountains and rooftops and burn juniper leaves and incense as offerings. The dharmapalas are praised in chant and song and asked for blessings.  Although Losar itself is a three-day festival, festivities often continue until Chunga Choepa, the Butter Lamp Festival, held 15 days after Losar. Sculpting yak butter is a sacred art in Tibet, and monks perform purification rituals before crafting brightly colored, elaborate works of art that are put on display in monasteries.

Some of these photos I put in my newsletter, and if you check back next week I'm hoping I can add butter sculptures if we are allowed to visit them.  Tibetan businesses were closed for most of the week, and are just re-opening today, March 8th.

The last photo (a video) shows the long line of people waiting to be blessed at the Sera Monastery. The line started the night before and stretched as far as you can see. There are police every 50 m. I've filmed the video from my school's gate, across the street. The police cordoned off most traffic - my friend had to park her bike and walk approx 5 blocks to visit me.