Origin And History
The origin of the Tibetan New Year is connected with the Tibetan calendar. We are called “Losar ལོ་གསར།” in the Tibetan language. According to the legend, the Tibetan calendar began around 100 BC. There is a person named Galmo Pakma from the Yarlung who calculated the day, month and year based on the moon. Later, people called it the “Galmo Pakma Calendar Algorithm”.
Later, the family business in the Yarlung area gradually developed. The farmers had to hold a party to celebrate the harvest whenever the crops were ripe and harvested. Year after year, this kind of activity gradually formed a regular celebration, which was later designated as ” “Wheat is the head year of the year”.
Until now, after the harvest of wheat in autumn in the Nyingchi area of Tibet, people celebrate the festival, and you can still see the continuation and influence of this phenological calendar.
In 624 AD, the snowy region also had a different calendar calculation called “beauty, Ka, and Gyatso” (meaning fire, air, and sea) in Tibetan. This calendar is based on the twelve animal birth signs of monkeys, chickens, etc., in the same order as the twelve terrestrial branches.
Every 12 years is a cycle, and it is divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter seasons.
By the beginning of the 9th century, Tibetan astronomers Sanggyal Yeshi, Gyaltsen Palsang, and others created a traditional Tibetan calendar based on the inland summer calendar, the Indian calendar, and the ancient calendar. It uses the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, and the twelve animal zodiac to calculate the year, month, and day. This same algorithm as the ten-day plan formed a week every 60 years.
In 1027 AD, the time wheel of India was translated into Tibetan and introduced to Tibet. This year happened to be the year of the Inflammable Rabbit. This year was designated as the first year of the first 60-year cycle in Tibetan history, which means that the so-called Tibetan New Year starts this year.
Elegance is called the first circumnavigation, meaning victory in life. The so-called “Victory of Life” refers to the last year of the invincible Dharma transmission of Shambala, which is said in the Kalachakra-1026, so the following year is designated as the “Victory of Life”.
The Tibetan calendar has a history of more than 970 years. It is basically in the same month as the Spring Festival, which is only a few days away.
On the first day of the Tibetan New Year, all the offerings are placed on the Buddhist altar and wishing you a happy new year this year. On the first day of Losar, the housewife took the “Auspicious Water” from the river and then awakened the whole family to sit in line with the elders.
Afterwards, the elders wish “Tashi Delek” in order and the juniors returned to “Tashi Delek Phunsum Tsok”. After the ceremony, breakfast started with the Ginseng fruit boiled in cereal and rice with Yak butter and Tibetan butter tea. On the first day of the Tibetan New Year, it is generally forbidden to sweep the floor, forbidden to say unlucky words and not visit each other as guests.
From the second day onwards, relatives and friends visited each other to congratulate each other and presented Kadak (White scarf). The new year lasts for 15 days, and it’s worth travelling to Tibet in winter during the Tibetan New Year.
