Losar Event - Wednesday March 5
ཤིང་སྦྲུལ་ལོའི་གནམ་ལོ་གསར་ཚེས་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ། Happy Year of the Wood Snake.
February 28, 2025, marks the start of the Wood Snake year (2152) in the Tibetan calendar and across many Himalayan and Mongolian communities. We wish you all Happy Losar 2152.
We extend our invitation to you to the Losar Event on March 5, 2025 at the 1st floor of Gugg. Please join us for an evening featuring Tibetan momos and snacks, along with a variety of cultural activities. This event is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring your friends and family! We look forward to seeing you at this special occasion.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Geography, Anthropology, and the Tibet Himalaya Initiative.
Ƶ18 Losar:
Losar (ལོ་གསར་ or “new year”) is the most important celebration in the Tibetan calendar, which consists of twelve lunar months. It is celebrated across the Tibetan Plateau, as well as in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, India, Bhutan, and among Mongolian communities. The celebration takes different forms depending on the location.
During the fifteen-day celebration, Tibetan families reunite to engage in various activities that symbolize purification and welcome the arrival of the new year. This includes cleaning one’s home from top to bottom, having new clothes made for the family to wear during the festival, and preparing food offerings made of butter or tsampa (roasted flour) to place on the family altar.
Tibetan Buddhists visit their local monasteries, where religious ceremonies featuring songs, readings of sacred texts, dances, and music are organized. Many offerings are made, prayer flags are hung, blessings are exchanged, and butter lamps are lit.
Losar is also an opportunity to enjoy delicious Tibetan dishes such as dresil (sweet rice), khapsey (Tibetan cookies), and guthuk (noodle soup). Various types of meat, bread, butter tea, and other dishes are served to guests invited to celebrate the holiday. During this period, chang (rice alcohol) is also enjoyed, either for drinking or as offerings.
The description of Losar above is compiled from Smithsonian Institution website. Please find links to "" and "" on the same website.