The Tibetan New Year is the biggest festival to grace the Tibetan Festival calendar. Tibet has been celebrating its new year, which is locally known as the Losar since the pre Buddhist era when the Tibetans offered various offerings to appease the local deities. It later evolved into a farmer's festival before attaining its present form.
The Tibetan calendar is divided into 12 months and celebrations for the Tibetan New Year begin in the early part of the 12th month itself. Offerings are made to Buddha and special delicacies are prepared in the run up to the festival. Each household prepares a Five-Cereal Container that contains items such as roasted highland barley flour mixed with butter, fried barley and dromar refreshments. This is done in order to pray for a good harvest in the ensuing year.
In the last few days before the Tibetan New Year, you will see people cleaning their homes and drawing auspicious patterns on the central wall to bring good luck. The New Year is also a grand occasion for the family to get together and take part in an elaborate ritual to ward off evil spirits. You can also see Swastika symbols on the doors along with niches holding statues of Buddha that occupy the pride of place in the house.
The Tibetan New Year is actually celebrated on the eve of the new year. So the excitement and religious fervor builds up to a crescendo by the time you approach the special day. The monasteries are not left behind in the rush. The monasteries are decorated in the best possible way and offerings are made to the deities. An important part of the occasion is the invocation of goddess Palden Lhamo that is an elaborate ritual held in great reverence.
As the celebrations end, people get back to their daily life with a resolve to make the next edition even more colorful and exciting. Thus, it can safely be said that the Tibetan New Year is a time when the whole of Tibet springs into activity to indulge in a celebration that not only glorifies the creator but also life as a whole.
