The Story of Losar

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

The celebration of Losar can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist period in Tibet. At that time Tibetans were followers of the Bon religion, and held a spiritual ceremony every winter. In the ceremonies, people provides large amount of incense to appease the local spirits, deities and protectors. Later, this religious festival developed into an annual Buddhist festival which is believed to originate in the reign of Pude Gungyal, the ninth King of Tibet.

A famer is showing his colorful plates which are made from butter and will be inserted on Qiema, a two-tier rectangular wooden box containing roasted barley and food prepared with butter, parched barley meal and sugar.

The festival is said to begin when an old woman called Belma introduced the measurement of time based on the moon’s phases. This festival was held in autumn when the apricot trees blossomed. It may have been the first celebration of the traditional farmers’ festival. It was during this period that the arts of cultivation were first introduced in Tibet.

The ceremonies started to celebrate these new capabilities, and it can be recognized as precursors of the Losar festival. Later when the basic knowledge of the science was introduced in Tibet, this festival became what we now call the Losar or New Year’s festival.

Editor: Liu Fang