Losar

Losar is the Tibetan Buddhist New Year, celebrated by the Monpa of western Arunachal (Tawang, Bomdila, Dirang) and the Bhutia of Sikkim over several days in late winter. Homes are cleaned and decorated, special foods are prepared, and families gather; monasteries hold prayers and, at some, masked cham dances to usher out the old year and welcome the new.

It is a more domestic, family-centred festival than the big public spectacles, but for a visitor it offers a warm window into Himalayan Buddhist home life, with monasteries at their most active and villages in festive dress.