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Tibetan
New Year is the most important festival in Tibet. It is an occasion
when Tibetan families reunite and expect that the coming year will
be a better one. Known as Losar, the festival starts from the first
to the third day of the first Tibetan month. Preparations for the
festive event are manifested by special offerings to family shrine
deities, painted doors with religious symbols, and other painstaking
jobs done to prepare for the event. Tibetans eat Guthuk (barley
crumb food with filling) on New Year's Eve with their families.
Eating Guthuk is fun since the barley crumbs are stuffed with a
different filling to fool someone in the family. The Festival of
Banishing Evil Sprits is observed after dinner. Signs that the New
Year is approaching when one sees lit torches, and people running
and yelling to get rid of evil spirits from their houses. Before
dawn on New Year's Day, housewives get their first buckets of water
for their homes and prepare breakfast. After breakfast, people dress
up to go to monasteries and offer their prayers. People visit their
neighborhoods and exchange their Tashi Delek blessings in the first
two days. Feast is the theme during the occasion. On the third day,
old prayer flags are replaced with new ones. Other folk activities
may be held in some areas to celebrate the events.
Monlam, the Great Prayer Festival,, Read more>>> |
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