Losar

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Tibetan name
Tibetan script :
ལོ་ གསར
Wylie transliteration :
lo gsar
Official transcription of the PRCh :
Losar
THDL transcription :
Losar
Chinese name
Traditional :
洛薩 、 羅 皇 節
Simplified :
洛萨 、 罗 皇 节
Pinyin :
Luòsà, Luóhuángjié

Losar is the Tibetan word for New Year . Lo means year and sar means new. Losar is the most important holiday in Tibet . It is celebrated, with a few variations, by the Yolmo , Sherpa , Tamang , Bhutia , in Bhutan and by the many Tibetans living in exile around the world.

Loser celebrations apparently existed in pre-Buddhist times . Preparatory exercises with text reading and meditation usually begin five days in advance. At Losar the house gets a fresh coat of paint, the family gets fresh new clothes, disputes are settled and debts are settled. You start a new life, so to speak.

The date of the Tibetan New Year has changed time and again throughout history. It begins with the first month of spring, whereby the lunar months used here denote the time from new moon to new moon. So that the year always begins at the beginning of spring, the Tibetan lunisolar calendar is adapted to the solar year, so some years last 13 months instead of 12. Often it falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year (sometimes with a day or even a lunar month difference). As in China, Mongolia and other countries of the cultural area, one of the 12 animal names of the East Asian zodiac cycle, one of 5 elements and - unlike in China - the male or female energies are assigned consecutively every year. So began z. B. on February 22nd, 2012 with the day after the new moon the Tibetan male 2139th year of the water dragon.

The first day of the Losar festival is mostly celebrated in the family. Often food is first presented to the Buddhas in a tsog puja . The second day is devoted to religious things, large thankas (sacred fabric images) are displayed in the monasteries, Cham dances are admired and monastery ceremonies are taken part. The third day is celebrated in public, mostly in the open air, and chang ( barley beer ) is drunk. As a major Buddhist renewal ritual, the ceremony can also last 15 days. On the second day of the New Year it is customary to visit one another; Monks and nuns travel to their families.

Since the day of birth has no special meaning in this culture, a birthday is usually celebrated on Losar and everyone is therefore one year older.

Web links

Commons : Losar  - collection of images, videos and audio files