Happy Tibetan New Year!

Read here about the celebration and about the traditional butter sculptures used in the festivities.

The Tibetan New Year, Losar, is celebrated this year (2005) on Wednesday, February 9th, of the Western calendar. For the Tibetans it is the Wood Bird year, 2131. Losar is a major event in the Tibetan community both in terms of its spiritual relevance and its social meanings. It is a time for dealing with the past, whether through cleaning the house or performing rituals to atone for accumulated negative karma, and for preparing for a new year with family celebrations, and prayers to remove obstacles to good health and prosperity for oneself, one’s family and indeed all sentient beings. The spiritual cleansing ritual is done on the 29th day of the last Tibetan month of the year.