Celebrating Lhosar in Kathmandu
Lho means “year” or “age,” and Sar means “new” or “fresh.” The word Lhosar means “New Year” or “beginning of a new era.” Buddhists celebrate their new year on the first day of the new moon or, in other words, the day after the no-moon day of the month of Magh (February). One of the traditions during Lhosar is that every family member thoroughly cleans their house to sweep away any bad fortune in hopes of making way for good incoming luck.
I consider myself lucky to have been living in Kathmandu during Lhosar, where celebrations can last for up to two weeks. I stayed at a lovely guest house in the Bouddah area, which is the Tibetan part of town, run by female nuns. They invited me to the nunnery for the main celebration, where I attended the early pujas, trying to follow the English version of their prayers while having “sweet rice and raisins” with milk tea at 6 am (I tried my best, but couldn’t manage rice that early in the morning).
My next stop was having more milk tea and sweet rice with the children at Tashi School, an orphanage nearby. Looking at the kids singing, wearing their best clothes, and happily eating their sweet rice deeply touched me for the rest of the day.
I truly enjoyed my first Lhosar. The ambiance in this Tibetan part of town was incredible, with lots of rituals in all the monasteries around the area. People were wearing their new dresses, and the main Stupa was more crowded than ever, with people offering prayers and going around doing kuoras (circumambulation around the stupa). By now, I hope I had accumulated enough good karma, as I had been around the stupa a hundred times since staying in Kathmandu!
Pictures below shows the nuns throwing “chappa” (fried wheat powder) as they offer prayers for the New Year in front of their monastery. It is a Tibetan tradition; however, some of the nuns are also from Nepal and Bhutan. The oldest nun is 80, and the youngest one is only 8, but all of them were truly enjoying the day.
