Losar Tibetan Near Year and Tsok* 2-20-2015

Tibetan New year, also known as Losar, is the most important festival in theTibetan calendar. Tibetan New Year is said to last 15 days, but the first 3 days are most important. It is mainly celebrated over a period of 3 days in lateJanuary or February, according to the Tibetan calendar (see Tibetan New Year dates)

TheTibetan Calendar

The Tibetan calendar consists of 12 (or 13) lunar months, and Losar begins on the first day of the Tibetan year. TheTibetan calendar is lunisolar and almost identical to the Chinese calendar.

Tibetan New Year is the same as Chinese New Year, a day earlier, or a day later. The adding of a 30-day month is occasionally done differently (e.g. in 1966), making Tibetan New Year a month later than Chinese New Year.

*tsok  is primarily a practice of offering. It is not just a practice of offering however; it is also a powerful method for purifying our samaya. Sometimes it is said that the best method for purifying samaya is the fire offering, and tsok practice is the ‘inner fire offering.’ Tsok is a very rich practice with many layers of meaning, and it can be practised on various levels. It is said that as ordinary beings we are only able to imitate the real tsok practice, which is performed by thedakas and dakinis.