Losar- the Tibetan New Year

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About Losar-

• Losar, also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. 
• The holiday is a new year’s festival, celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to a date in February or March in the Gregorian calendar.
• In 2020, the new year commenced on the 24th of February and celebrations ran until the 26th of the same month. It also commenced the Year of the Male Iron Rat.
• The variation of the festival in Nepal is called Lhochhar and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar.
• Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion.
• Losar is celebrated for 15 days, with the main celebrations on the first three days. 
• On the first day of Losar, a beverage called changkol is made from chhaang (a Tibetan-Nepali cousin of beer). 
• The second day of Losar is known as King’s Losar (gyalpo losar). Losar is traditionally preceded by the five-day practice of Vajrakilaya. 
• Because the Uyghurs adopted the Chinese calendar, and the Mongols and Tibetans adopted the Uyghur calendar,Losar occurs near or on the same day as the Chinese New Year and the Mongolian New Year, but the traditions of Losar are unique to Tibet, and predate both Indian and Chinese influences.
• As well as that, the Sherpas are associated with Losar and enjoy Losar in the high altitudes of the Nepal Himalayan Range.  

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