Losar Celebrations!

Hello again my dear friends! I am now writing to you from Lhasa, and oh my what a wonderful time it is! I wish you were here amongst the hustle and bustle that is surrounding this region, as it is truly magnificent. People are streaming in to visit close friends, and family members, the streets are crowded with individuals in all forms of dress, and the smell of food is simply intoxicating. Before I get extremely giddy with excitement, let me mention to you my friends that we are on the cusp of Losar, the Tibetan New Year. With the New Year fast approaching these next few days will be quite hectic, to say the least. It may come as a surprise to you that we are celebrating our New Year in the month of February, as you all must have been in the full swing of accomplishing your resolutions for 2015 for weeks, however according to our traditional lunar calendar, tomorrow will be the first day of 2142. Moreover, this will be a ‘female wood goat’ year, and next year, 2143, will be a ‘male fire monkey’ year. This may sound odd to you, so let me explain…Tibetan years essentially cycle through twelve distinct animals, which include the rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox and tiger, and five elements, those being fire, earth, iron, water and wood. Each element covers two animal years in succession, the first of which is labeled ‘male’ and the second ‘female.’ Also you may be wondering how I ended up in Lhasa for the New Year, well you will be quite interested to know that while our village was preparing for the Tibetan New Year, his holiness the Dalai Lama invited us himself to Lhasa to join him in celebrating the New Year. Luckily while making my way to my pilgrimage site, I had met a friend in Lhasa whom I will now be staying with when I arrive for the Losar celebrations, and I cannot contain my excitement! Okay now back to the story of the Lama inviting our village, so we received a message that due to our great achievements this past year as a community, the Dalai Lama was inspired by our great undertakings, and wished to meet us himself. As soon as we received this message, the nuns instantly knew that one should not refuse such an offer from the Dalai Lama, and so after a few days of packing and preparing we departed to our new destination.

And we Tibetans take our ‘lo sar’ (New Year) quite seriously! Preparations for the New Year begin well in advance, and although the three specific religious ceremonies occur within the first few days of the New Year, we often tend to celebrate well into the month. The Losar tradition itself has been around for ages, as I remember when I lived with my family my father would discuss this tradition, as the New Year excited him the most, and would explain, that its observance likely originated from the Bon period, which preceded Buddhism in Tibet. Although the main roots of the tradition come across as ancient, my father would explain while preparing around the house for New Year celebrations, that the content of the Losar ceremonies has been changed over the years. This can be seen as quite true, as I’ve read amongst the library books at the nunnery highlighting the Losar tradition over the centuries, with the emergence of the fifth Dalai Lama in the 17th century. With the fifth Dalai Lama came military conquests, and new regimes. Though over the centuries it seems that as Tibetans we have forgotten, our great ancestral warriors. Of course understandably to remember our past military conquests in light of the New Year celebrations, is painful, as we are also now an occupied land. Here I am referring to the ‘sombre reflection’ that I have mentioned above. Currently our political situation, which is directly under Chinese rule is not a healthy one, and I’m sure as many of you are aware self-immolation remains a horrid form of protest here.

Overall with Chinese rule, Losar celebrations have inevitably altered. As far I can recall from the books I read at the nunnery, prior to the 50’s the Dalai Lama conquered with great Losar celebrations, and ritual included religious and political ambitions, which were essential to Tibet as a whole. Ceremonies nowadays, as I have learnt from my fellow elderly nuns and snippets of conversations I remember having with my father, are mere imitations of ones that reigned with the great Dalai Lama. In my opinion, and I’m sure an opinion I share with many people, celebrating the New Year is sometimes difficult when we have the shadow of our past haunting us. Though, if anything I will celebrate, but in a respectful manner, for Losar, as we have been welcomed with open arms by the great Dalai Lama himself. For the preparation of Losar there was much to do, as our New Year is two phased- meaning we must essentially close out the old year, before ringing in the arrival of the new one. Although, I wish I had written daily giving a detailed account of the multitude of preparations that went underway for days for Losar, I very well couldn’t as I was so busy helping with preparations. Though, I will do my best to recount the finest of memories I have had so far, and one’s I hope will excite you and inspire you as much as they did me.

When you enter the streets of Lhasa during the preparations for Losar, you hear cheering from all corners, of revelers preparing for this grand event. Women in most crowds all wear long ornately decorated chubas, while the men are dressed in formal suits. Even during the early hours of the day people engage in drinking, with the exception of us nuns, monks, and children of course. The sheer number of individuals, who gather in crowds, would be a shock to most people, especially those foreigners who come and visit during the festivities of Losar. Along the street, one would also come across rows of Chinese policemen, who are sent to oversee the New Year celebrations. Men at every corner will stop you and offer the most delicious momos, and then we have in the main thoroughfare, where a majority of people gather- a chan performance. The light humming that comes from the variety of musical instruments in this performance creates an interaction with the din of the crowd, helping to heighten anticipation mingled with excitement. With the dance, a plethora of various bardo realms are put on display for the mass audience, and a group of men who are dressed in unique costumes, with bags slung over their shoulders to portray the bodies of the dead, move around the stage with over the top gestures. Other male actors come on stage, and they almost appear cross-dressed with their alluring form of dress portraying female fatales. These male actors represent literal projections of samsaric desire that are thought to inhabit the bardo realms, even after death. During the second half of the performance, a famous scene of the life of Padmasambhava is performed, highlighting meditative like qualities. The dancers at this point, all dressed in black hats, come out with a distinct rhythm by utilizing their hand drums, while moving back and forth in the center of the stage.

During the evening time, I along with many others would make my way to the potala, which is the former home of our great (14th) Dalai Lama, to circumambulate the building with Buddhist pilgrims. Coming from a pilgrimage myself, I felt quite honored to join others in the circumambulation of the great building. Throughout the evening, just as in the day, the smell of juniper and Artemisia lies as a thick cloud in the air, completely absorbing all your senses. As soon as the sun begins to set, masses of people begin to descend into smaller groups, all heading off into the mountains for midnight feasts. It seems when you enter these midnight feasts, Losar appears only about food! Although we are sparing when it comes to diet, Losar is indeed like any other type of celebration, meaning it is a time of indulgence. My favorite type of Losar treat is khapse (a sweet deep-fried dough twist). Oh and why a sweet it is my friend! My mouth is watering by simply recounting the first memory of taking a bite out of this dish. There are also of course momos as mentioned earlier, which are dumplings filled with yak’s meat, onion, cilantro, and ginger- and dresil- rice cooked with sugar nuts, raisins, and again yak butter. Although I, as a devoted nun do not drink, there is also a batch of chang prepared, which is a beer made from fermented barley. Chang it is said by people, who have told me about the drink, is consumed in large amounts, so as help avoid the cold during this time. My favorite drink though, is po cha, which is made with butter, milk, and salt, absolutely delicious, and it has nothing on that Starbucks of yours ☺.

When one makes their way to the midnight festivals, you notice a group of Khampa men assembled in the center of a block, feeding a fire with wild like aromatic herbs. Their chanting can be heard across the vast landscape, and one particular rhyme sticks to many, and it goes something like this: po mo mo kali pep kali pep. It is repeated again and again, in a mantra-like fashion. This rhyme is repeated to negate any negative forces, which have taken there reign throughout the year, and with the rhyme being repeated, merit is meant to increase for the whole community in the upcoming year. Although Losar is indeed a time of celebration with delicious foods, rituals, enchanting dances, we must not forget that it is also a time for you to reflect on your thoughts and deeds, so that magnified negative karmic consequences do not accumulate for the up and coming year. Therefore, by embracing Buddhist ideals of compassion, tolerance etc. in your own lives; we collectively as a community then, attempt to dispel negative thoughts during Losar into higher positive consciousness, for the benefit of our fellow peoples.

Oh my in the midst of recounting all events before the official opening of Losar, I have just noticed the time and it is almost around midday, and I seem to have gotten hardly any sleep at all! It must be the extra adrenaline from all these events, that is keeping me going, but I now must make my way over to the town for the official opening of Losar. I can already hear my fellow monks and nuns exchanging tashi delek greetings with one another amongst the large crowd. After dance and musical performances commence, and the monastic meetings draw to a close, all individuals will return to their homes to celebrate the rest of their evening with their dear ones. Not to worry though you will be in my thoughts, and next year I can only hope that you will join us for Losar. Goodbye for now my friends!