Tashi Delek! Happy Losar!
The Tibetan New Year’s celebrations last for 15 days in total. This includes 2 days before the New Year and a number of days afterwards. The two days before the New Year are just as important as the days after wards. This year (2015) is the year of the Wood Sheep which is categorized as peaceful and harmonious. During Losar, the entire village takes part in many different events and we pray for a peaceful, happy, prosperous year. This is a time full of happiness, fun, singing, dancing and celebrating. I look forward to it every year.
Recently I have learned some of the history of Losar in our region. Losar has had a long history in Tibet, and started even before any Buddhist’s arrived, with the Bon tradition. In this early period, Losar focused on the burning of a large amount of incense to appease the local deities and bring good fortune. Additionally there would be blood offerings to the deities. Over time, this has disappeared with the introduction of Buddhists to Losar and there was a shift towards Losar containing Buddhist rituals. This ancient tradition eventually became the tradition that we know today.
Two days before the New Year, there are masked dances of Mahakala. The monks of the monastery participate in these dances that are meant to chase away all harms such as negative spirits and increase merit, positivity, wealth, fortune and life span so that the world may be pure and it is easier for all people of the village attain enlightenment. Throughout these dances you hear the sound of intense drumming and the chanting of mantras.
At night there is a fire puja, which includes a smoke offering which I was able to speak about in a previous journal entry. This brings happiness, healthiness and good luck to the village. After this, we all must return home to clean. The nuns, including myself, clean the whole nunnery, especially the kitchen because this is the important place where the food for the celebrations is to be prepared. The kitchen in the nunnery is usually very clean so this does not take too long. Cleaning the house ensures a fruitful new year, and activities such as sweeping out the house will get rid of disease and tragedy. This is also the time when people spend painting their houses, buying new furniture, new clothes, new food and prayer flags.
One dish in particular that is central to the festivities is Guthuk. This is also done two days before the New Year and traditionally contains nine ingredients. One aspect of this dish is a small dumpling which can be filled with different objects such as pebbles, scriptures, paper, salt, or chili peppers. Each person will find something different in the dumpling in their bowl, and whichever ingredient you find within your dumpling is able to explain your character. For example, scripture can mean that you are knowledgeable and a chili pepper can mean that you have a bad temper. In my opinion this is a very fun part of Losar.
At night, two days before the New Year, householders take part in a ghost exorcism ritual. This involves getting the evil ghosts and spirits out of the house using fire. By holding a torch in every part of the home, and then throwing it out into the road, one is able to get the evil spirits out of the house leaving the house positive and pure for the New Year. It is important to remember to not look back until you are back in your home, or the bad luck and ghosts will follow you.
The day before the New Year, there are offerings made of New Year cookies. These cookies, called khabtse/khapse are deep fried and are usually made with flour, eggs, butter and sugar. The nunnery made so many this year that it took all day and all night to make them all. They have a simple taste but are good for use on display in the home. They can be made into different shapes such as a twisted rectangle, or “donkey’s ears” which are easier to stack than the former. These offerings can be very large, fancy piles of these cookies, called Derkha. These cookies are stacked as used also as decorations for the rituals along with sweets and dried fruits.
The Derkha are used as an offering along with Chemar boxes, fake sheep’s heads, and a cat nip type grass. Chemar boxes are a wooden box that holds barley flour and roasted barley. It is used at many different kinds of ceremonies beyond Losar. Specifically early in the morning on the first day of the New Year, you can go to everyone’s house with the Chemar and everyone is able to make wishes on it. When guests come to your house, they would go up to your Chemar and throw a pinch of it in the air three times and then eat a little. This is done to wish them good luck and happiness for the year. Tashi Delek! The fake sheep’s head is an offering to the deities so that they may get rid of any bad karma. The grass is meant to represent prosperity for the New Year.
On the 3rd day of the New Year, new, fresh prayer flags are hung, replacing the old ones. There are five different colours of prayer flags that can represent the five elements as well as the five Buddha families. During the first days of the New Year is also when we can wear the new clothes and use the new furniture. It is a time for welcoming the new and getting rid of the old.
On the last day, the fifteenth day, the monastery prepared two flour tormas as offerings. Tormas are statues made of butter and barley flour. They are placed at the in front of the Losar shrines that are located in households, the nunnery and the monastery.
Losar is a time to make offering and take part in activities that will bring positivity and good fortune in the New Year. It is a time to reconnect with family, welcome the new and get rid of the evil spirits of the past.
