Lo-sar: The New Year Festival

Lo-sar: The New Year Festival

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Ethnic groups such as Tamangs, Sherpas, and Gurungs mostly belonging to the Buddhist faith celebrate a New Year festival called Lo-sar in Nepal. Lo means year and Sar means new. Thus, Lo-sar means a New Year. They have three kinds of Lo-sar. They are “Tola”, “Sonam” and “Gyalpo” Lo-sars. People in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim and northeastern part of India called Ladak celebrate one of these three Lo-sars following their tradition and custom. Relatives and friends living abroad and far away return home for celebrating Lo-sar.

In Nepal, we celebrate “Tola” Lo-sar some time in December. Some people think that we celebrate “Tola” Lo-sar in preparation for celebrating the main Lo-sar following the lunar calendar. However, it is not so because we Nepalis living in the mountain areas of Nepal widely use both lunar and solar calendars. We celebrate Lo-sar on the day when the sun begins moving toward north according to the lunar calendar. Hence, it falls some time in December. Some people think that it is a mock New Year celebration because the name “Tola” denotes mock.

The second Lo-sar we have is “Sonam” Lo-sar. The name Sonam is derived from “Sonampa” means farmers. Farmers celebrate Lo-sar before the agricultural season sets in. Hence, it is called “Sonam” Lo-sar or farmers’ New Year. Farmers celebrate it some time in January about one and a half months earlier than “Gyalpo” Lo-sar.

The third Lo-sar called “Gyalpo” means royal or king. Hence, kings and royalties celebrate “Gyalpo” Lo-sar some time in February or March following the lunar calendar.

The Sherpa community in Nepal celebrates “Gyalpo” Lo-sar. Some people believe that scholars set the tradition of celebrating “Gyalpo” Lo-sar in commemoration of the miracles Lord Shravosti Buddha performed for fifteen days to convert religious pilgrims to Buddhism. Therefore, the celebration of “Gyalpo” Lo-sar coincides with these religious festivals.

Now, let us see how we celebrate Lo-sar in Nepal. In preparation for celebrating Lo-sar, we renovate, paint and decorate our houses. We draw figures of mountain, sun, moon and Shastric swastikas on the walls of our houses and rooms. We buy new clothes for all our family members. We discard old things and we bring new utensils, vessels and other household appliances into use in the New Year. We believe that the old things that were not much in use in the year won’t bring good luck to us in the New Year. We also think that it is inauspicious to throw away old things during the New Year festival. Hence, we discard and throw out many old things before the Lo-sar festival sets in. We collect all worn-out clothes, broken items and other non-usable materials, and take them to the intersection of seven lanes; there, we burn them down. We believe that by doing so, the misfortunes that struck us in the year, might not repeat in the New Year.

We read scriptures, and recite important passages of religious books throughout the day of the New Year eve, so that the New Year sets in with peace, happiness and good health for all.

We eat a special festival feast called “Gyathuk” in the New Year eve. The dish is a special kind of “Thukpa”: a noodle soup prepared from nine different items. We serve ‘Gyathuk” to family members with a dumpling. Each dumpling contains a piece of paper that has written an item such as chili, butter, coal and so on that describe the personality traits of the receiver. The person receiving a dumpling with a paper in it with a word “butter” is considered to be a lucky person for that year, and the person receiving a dumpling with a paper in it with a word “coal” is considered to be an unlucky person. We have nine different characteristics we use in dumplings for prophesizing the luck of our family members in the New Year eve. Our tradition is to feast on nine bowls of “Gyathuk” to ensure a lucky start of the New Year.

We make a dough figurine called “Luu” and place it in a separate bowl. This effigy serves as an evil spirit carrier. At the end of the “Gyathuk” meal, every member of a family pours the leftover soup in the bowl with the figurine. Thereafter, every one of us transfers the so-called evil spirit that may be dwelling in us to the effigy.

For transferring the evil spirit dwelling in us, we chipped off a piece of the dough effigy, and then rub it on our body, and return it back to the effigy. After this ritual, one of us takes the bowl with the evil spirit possessed dough figurine to a crossroads, and leaves it there. Then s/he comes home not looking back because if s/he looks over the shoulder, evil spirits might find the way back home.

We rise early in the morning on the New Year day, and go to collect holy water from the Water Gods. At the water source before collecting holy water, we worship three Water Gods. We believe that whoever takes water first will receive “Amrit” (elixir or nectar) from Water Gods as blessings. Then, we bring holy water home and offer it to our ancestral deity. Thereafter, we offer “Khapsay”: fried bread especially made for this occasion, and “Nai vidya” means nuts, sweets and fruits together to the deity. Thus, we begin a New Year with auspicious offerings to the deity.

After completion of the offerings to the deity, we eat breakfast comprising soup called “Chang-go”. We prepared it boiling ‘chhang’ (homebrew corn, wheat or rice beer) with sugar, butter and dried cheese. Then, we eat a second course called “Deysel”. It is a sweet rice dish cooked with dried fruits and nuts. We consume a number of “Khapsay” along with these dishes. We also drink butter tea endlessly.

After the morning meal, we visit monasteries to perform offerings to Lord Buddha, to read holy books, and to receive New Year blessings from Lamas.

We do not do businesses that involve monetary transactions on this day believing that it might bring unfavorable business in the New Year.

From the second day on, we visit relatives, friends and neighbors to exchange best wishes. We greet each other saying “Tashi - Delek” means happy New Year. Every household welcomes guests with delicious dishes and “chhang”.

On the third day, we gather at a public place to celebrate Lo-sar jointly. First, we offer “Khada”: ceremonial silk scarves, sweets, fruits and so on to Lamas and senior respectable people of the society, and receive blessings from them. Then, we share delicious food among us.

After eating the community meal, we take ‘Dor-chhod” means religious flags to the top of hills, there, we unfurl them on flagpoles. We also offer incense and sweets to deities there. We chant “Lha-Gyal Lo, Dud Famshow” in one voice. This means glory to the deities and death to the devils. Then, we distribute “chhang” and “chemar” as blessings from deities. “Chemar” is a mixture of cooked barley flour, butter and sugar. We drink “chhang” and eat “chemar.”

Then, our men and women holding hands of each other sing and dance spontaneously, thus, displaying happiness in the celebration of Lo-sar festival. This dance is called “Sya-pu”. It does not need music.

Thereafter, each household holds a feast for relatives every day, in turn, until all related households has done it. Thus, the New Year feast lasts several days.

“Khapsay” is fried bread. It is a special cuisine of this festival. Some of us decorate our religious room with the different color and size of “khapsay”. Therefore, we put our efforts on and skills in preparing a variety of “khapsay” on the occasion of “Lo-sar”. We cook this kind of bread only once a year during the “Lo-sar” festival. Our people demonstrate their craftsmanship and ingenuity in preparing such artistic and unique bread not only for consumption during the festival but for decoration and for sending it as a present to friends and relatives. We have a tradition of sending a basketful of “khapsay” to friends and relatives.

References:

1. Bhichhu Wong Wosere Lama Sherpa: Lo-sar: The Festival of Nepalis Living in the Himalayan Region, February 19, 1994 (Gorkhapatra in Nepali).

2. Jamyong Lodoe and Susan Roe: Happy Tibetan New Year, February 16, 1994 (The Independent)

Note: This year “Tola Lo-sar” is on January 05, 2011; “Sonam” is on February 04, 2011; “Gyalpo” is on March 05, 2011 according to the Nepalese calendar.

Addendum:

Following is "The Story of Losar" contributed by Venerable Salden of Namgyal Monastery (Personal Monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama) to Tibet Center, Chicago, and posted on the website Phayul.com, Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Happy Losar (Tibetan New Year)!

It is time again for Tibetans around the world to celebrate their Losar: this time, the Year of the Earth Mouse 2135.

Tibetans and a section of Buddhists around the world will celebrate Losar on Thursday, February 7, 2008. The celebration normally lasts for three days, and it all means time for greetings, togetherness and abundant festivities, and time for prayers as well.

The word Losar is a Tibetan word for New Year. LO means year and SAR means new.

The celebration of Losar can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist period in Tibet. During the period when Tibetans practiced the Bon religion, every winter a spiritual ceremony was held, in which people offered large quantities of incense to appease the local spirits, deities and protectors. This religious festival later evolved into an annual Buddhist festival, which is believed to have originated during the reign of Pude Gungyal, the ninth King of Tibet.

The festival is said to have begun when an old woman named Belma introduced the measurement of time based on the phases of the moon. This festival took place during the flowering of the apricot trees of the Lhokha Yarla Shampo region in autumn, and it may have been the first celebration of what has become the traditional farmers' festival. It was during this period that the arts of cultivation, irrigation, refining iron from ore and building bridges were first introduced in Tibet. The ceremonies, which were instituted to celebrate these new capabilities, can be recognized as precursors of the Losar festival.

Later when the rudiments of the science of astrology, based on the five elements, were introduced in Tibet, this farmer's festival became what we now call the Losar or New Year's festival.

The calendar is made up of twelve lunar months and Losar begins on the first day of the first month. In the monasteries, the celebrations for the Losar begin on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month. That is the day before the Tibetan New Year's Eve. On that day the monasteries do a protector deities' puja (a special kind of ritual) and begin preparations for the Losar celebrations.

The custom that day is to make special noodle called guthuk. It is made of nine different ingredients including dried cheese and various grains. Also, dough balls are given out with various ingredients hidden in them such as chilies, salt, wool, rice and coal. The ingredients one finds hidden in one's dough ball are supposed to be a lighthearted comment on one's character. If a person finds chilies in their dough, it means they are talkative. If white-colored ingredients like salt, wool or rice are inside the dough it is considered a good sign. If a person finds coal in the dough it has much the same meaning as finding coal in one's Christmas stocking; it means you have a "black heart".

The last day of the year is a time to clean and prepare for the approaching New Year. In the monasteries it is a day of preparations. The finest decorations are put up and elaborate offerings are made of called "Lama Losar". In the early dawn of this day, the monks of Namgyal Monastery offer a sacrificial cake (Tse- tor) on top of the main temple (Potala in Tibet) to the supreme hierarchy of Dharma protectors, the glorious goddess Palden Lhamo. Led by the Dalai Lama, the abbots of three great monasteries, lamas, reincarnated monks, government officials and dignitaries join the ceremony and offer their contemplative prayers, while the monks of Namgyal Monastery recite the invocation of Palden Lhamo. After the completion of this ceremony, all assemble in the hall called Excellence of Samsara and Nirvana for a formal greeting ceremony. Seated on his or her respective cushions, everyone exchanges the traditional greeting, "Tashi delek".

In order to wish the His Holiness the Dalai Lama good luck for the coming year, consecrated long-life pills (tse-ril) made out of roasted barley dough are offered to him by the representatives of the three great monasteries, the two Tantric Colleges, etc. Then entertainers (garma) perform a dance of good wishes. And two senior monks stage a debate on Buddhist philosophy, and conclude their debate with an auspicious recitation composed especially for the event, in which the whole spectrum of Buddhist teaching is first briefly reviewed. A request is made to His Holiness and to all holders of the doctrine to remain for a long time amongst beings in samsara in order to serve them through their enlightened activities. The official ceremony of the day then concludes with a ceremonial farewell to the His Holiness, who then retires to his palace.

The second day of Losar is known as King's Losar (gyal-po lo-sar) because officially the day is reserved for a secular gathering in the hall of Excellence of Samsara and Nirvana. His Holiness and his government exchange greetings with both monastic and lay dignitaries, such as representatives of China, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia and other foreign visitors.

Then from the third day onwards, the people and monks begin to celebrate and enjoy the festive season. In Tibet before the Chinese came, Losar had been celebrated for fifteen days or more. In India today we celebrate for three days, and in America we have minimized it to one day. In this way the three days of the New Year celebration officially concludes.

Ends