Tibetan New Year

Tibetan New Year is the most important festival in Tibet. Known as Losar, the festival starts from the 28th to the 29th of the 12th Tibetan month. It is an occasion when Tibetan families reunite and expect a better coming year. On the New Year's Eve, Tibetans eat barley crumb food (Guthuk in Tibetan) with their families and have fun since the barley crumbs are stuffed with different stuffing to fool someone in the family. After the dinner it is the Festival of Banishing Evil Sprits! Torches are lit and people are running and yelling to get rid of evil spirits from their houses.

 

As the first ray of sunshine of the New Year touches the nearby earth, the housewives fetch their first buckets of water which is seen as the most sacred, clearest water of the coming year. It is said the person who got the very first bucket of water will be blessed with good luck all year around. Since the rivers are far away outside the city, so usually people get water from the wells as they think the wells are somewhat connected to the rivers. So in the early morning of New Year's day, people stand in lines to wait for the water. One the first day of New Year, people stuff themselves with good food, which means there would be no hunger for the whole year.

 

And on the second day, people go to visit their relatives and folks and wish each other good luck. Tibetan new year usually lasts 15 days. During this period, people go to monasteries to pilgrimage, and a lot of folk activities will be held in some areas to celebrate the events.