Losar Festival
The Background
Losar FestivalLo means 'year' and Sar means 'new' in Tibetan. So, this is the most important holiday in Tibet. This is celebrated for 15 days, with the main celebration on the first three days. On the first day of Losar , a beverage called Changkoi is made from Chhang (Tibetan country liquer). The second day of Losar is known as King's Losar.Losar is traditionally preceded by the five day practice of Vajrakilaya. This festival is also refered to as the Bhutanese New year. In Nepal, it is referred to as either Losar or Lhochaar.This festival is said to be originated from a spiritual ceremony of pre-Buddhist period of Tibet. This ceremony later evolved into an annual Buddhist festival during the reign of Pude Gungyal, ninth king of Tibet. After some time, an lady Belma introduced the measurement of the time based on the phases of the moon. It evolved more during this period that the arts of cultivation, irrigation,refining iron ore and building bridges were introduced here.
These ceremonies as farmers festival transformed into Losar or New Year's festival after the advent of Asrology based on the five elements entered Tibet.
The celebration
This festival begins on the first day of the Tibetan Calendar year but in the monesteries, this starts on the second last day of the year. The monasteries start the celebration by performing a protector deities' prayer and making a special noodle Guthuk. Dough balls are also given out. The various ingredients hidden in them are supposed to be a light-hearted comment on one's character.Next day is for cleaning and preparation for the approaching new year. The monks of the Namgyal Monestery offer a sacrificial cake (Tse-Tor) on top of the Potala temple to the supreme hierarchy of Dhamma protectors, the glorious goddess Palden Lhamo. Dalai Lama joins the ceremony and offers his prayers with others while Namgyal monks reciting the hymns. Everybody gathers in a hall of Excellence of Samsara and Nirvana and exchanges greetings.Consecrated long-life pills (Tse-Ril) are offered and a dance is performed for the well wishes of Dalai Lama. A debate on Buddhism is also orgnized. The ceremony concludes with the a formal request to Dalai Lama and other leaders of the faith to keep on leading them and a ceremonial farewell afterwards.
The second day of Losar is for secular activities so known as King's Losar (Gyal-Po Lo-Sar).His Holiness and his government exchanges greetings with monastic and other representatives of other countries.
The people and monks begin to celebrate and enjoy the festival from the third day onwards.This festival was celebrated for more than fifteen days before the Chinese came here.
The Rainbow
This festival is celebrated in all of the Buddhist dominated areas of the country with some local touch added.In snow clad Ladakh, people come out on streets swinging huge fireballs known as 'Metho' to celebrate the festival. Men,participating in the fire processions, whirl torches creating a fantastic display of fire and light. By the end, all the torches are thrown well outside the town to bid farewell to the year gone by and to welcome the new one.
This festival is also celebrated in Kannaur (Himachal Pradesh) India. A special preparation of parched barley mixed with butter milk, a garland of Chilgoza with the exchange of greetings, blessings by the elderly, small branches of thorny bush to ward off the evil spirits and a feast onwards are some of it's highlights.
Singme Namgyar, king of Sikkim shifted the celebration of New Year one month earliar because he had to leave for a war on the New year 's day. So, Sonam Losar, the Buddhist New Year festival in Sikkim is celebrated one month earliar even now.