LOSAR LA TASHI DELEK

Losar means Tibetan New year. It is the most significant festival celebrated by Tibetan all over the world.

This year 2011, Tibetan New Year will  be celebrated on 5th march. It is a 15-day festival while the first three days are the main part of the festival observance. These three days are celebrated with lots of customary traditions. For instance, on the first day of Losar 2011, Early in the morning, they wish each other saying, Tashi Delek and offer Tea, Dre Sil , scarfs to His Holiness photo. On that day, they prepare Changkol which is normlly made of special beverage, a kind of Tibetan beer. It is prepared with rice beer boiled with nuts, dry grapes, butter, sugar and dry cheese.

The first day of the festival is celebrated within the family members. The family members dress in their best attires, normally with tradtional Tibetan dress. On the first day, They prefer to stay home with thier family members. On the second day, they come out to wish thier friends and relatives and they perform community prayers and Lhasol. And on the third day of celebrations, people visit the local monasteries and they pray for a good year ahead but it differ from one region to another, some prefer to visit monasteries on the first day.

According to Tibetan tradition, Tibetan New Year is celebrated on the New Moon the year as Tibetan calendar is a lunar calendar. New Year celebrations start on the first day of the first of the Tibetan calendar. On 29th day of the twelfth month of tibetan calendar, monastieriies performs Chams and rituals to clear the obstacles and prepare for new year and at home, they perform same rituals to clean the house and ride off all the obstacles of the year for new year. Normaly, on that day, they prepare Bhak Dog, a ball type of pasta.

The Tibetan New Year is a family, spritual and social oriented festival where every one celebrates and specially the family members join together to celebrate and welcome new year.