The New Year Festival
The new year festival of the Buddhists falls on the 25th day of the 10th month of the Tibetan calendar, corresponding to December. Celebrated over seven days as a thanks giving feast by farmers, elaborate illumination lends great beauty to the festivities.?
Losar is the new year festival of the Mahayana Buddhists. The farmers of Sikkim call this feast? Sonam Losar and celebrate it on the same day. An interesting folk tale offers to explain why the new year festival falls at the end of Dawa Chuchipha and not at the end of the twelvth month, as iscustomary.
Singe Namgyar was an ancient king of Ladakh. He decided to attack Skardo (now in Pakistan). Since the date of his eventual return was uncertain, he chose to celebrate the important festival of Losar before leaving for the battle field, as it was considered obligatory for all family members to be present at the feast. This happened in the 11th month, and the tradition has carried on ever since.
It falls at the time when the larders Losar are stocked full with grain and meat.The flesh of yaks and sheep is collected over about six weeks. It is expected to last for the two long snow-bound months of winter, when no work is possible.
There is great merriment and revelry as people thank the gods and pay homage to their ancestors for providing abundant food. The festivities are spread over almost a fortnight. The lamas are the initiators of the rites and play the main role, but the entire village participates. There sidents of each little township decorate their houses with flour paintings of the sun and the moon. They also make offerings to the moon asking for happiness in life, in the new year, on new year`s day and in the stars for the future. Lamps lit with mustard oil illuminate the house at night. All the members of a family are expected to stay at home for the new year celebrations and eat a bread called tab-zan. Made of parched barley dough kneaded in mustard oil, the tab-zan is an essential offering to the family deity. During the first four days of the festival, there are a series of private family feasts. On the fifth day a special broth is cooked by boiling together unripened barley grains left over from the harvest, peas, and the trotters and stomach of a sheep. Another dish, called the dib-rug, is made for the celebration by stuffing the intestines of a sheep with barley dough, kneaded in sheep`s blood. This traditional fare is also distributed amongst neighbours. An importan tritual of the new year festivities is the lighting of three bundles of willow and juniper branches. Called Meto, the burning torches of these plants are carried to an open space to ward off evil spirits and to prevent sickness,dog bites and other misfortunes. The disinfecting properties of these plants may have some bearing on the origin of this custom.
On the first day of the following month, spring cleaning begins. Bundles of juniper branches called lhato, which are kept on a plank on the roof of the chapel, are replaced. This plank represents the seat of the family deity. It is also changed with a rite called the lhasol. The male members of a family tie horns of animals around the Juniper branches. To appease the deity, special offerings are made by each family. An effigy of an ibex made with dough, unleavened bread called pe rak, parched barley flour, water and beer in separate vessels are traditionally presented.
On this occasion, a male and female goat are purified for sacrifice.They are washed thoroughly. Their ears are stitched with ribbon and their bodies are smeared red, the colour of sacrifice. They are then made to drinka local beer called chang and in halethe fumes of the incense burnt in front of them. Perhaps the origin of this custom of in toxicating the animals was to dull their senses to prevent them from bolting at the time of slaughter. It has since then become a part of the ritual for the purification of the lhasol.This is followed by a rite called Mesol. In this ceremony a male from the family visits the crematorium to honour his ancestors. He lights a lamp and offers food and drinks to his forbears. This food is then considered consecrated and later eaten by the family.
After the rituals there is great revelry. Horse races are arranged and the winner is felicitated by the ladies present with the local beer, chang. Some villages also have archery contents. Two people dress as clowns. They perform a play called Lama Ziguin which they amuse the locals with their antics while performing rites to drive away evil spirits, by chanting verses, burning incense and waving a broom made of feathers. Elderly neighbours visit each other`s homes and exchange gifts of bread and chang. Children go from home to home collecting meat, bread and other eatables.
The finale of the celebrations is an assembly of all the people of the village, both young and old, in an open field where they sing and dance together before the long cold winter sets in.