New Year strikes early!

Sheetal

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Losar, the most popular festival of Ladakh, marks the beginning of the New Year. Chandigarh, which has a sizable population of Ladakhis, is all set to celebrate it. This year’s Losar begins today and we talk to students and find out how they are celebrating it.

Sonam Yangdol, pursuing masters in history from Panjab University, says, “I have been living in Chandigarh since last two years. Many Ladakhis have gone back home to celebrate Losar. But like last year, I stayed back. I will go to Gompa (a Buddhist temple) in Khudda Alisher and then have dinner with some of my Ladakhi friends.”

“People from different regions of Ladakh— Changtang, Zanskar, Nubra, Sham Choks and Leh wear their traditional dresses. We try to represent all of these in our Losar festival. It will be organised in Panjab University today and it is open for all, says Tashi Raftan, president of Ladakh Students Association.

After completing his studies from Chandigarh, Jigmet Rafstan is finally celebrating this year’s Losar with family at home. He explains, “During this festival, the Ladakhi Buddhists make a religious offering before their deities in the domestic shrines or in the Gompas. A medley of cultural events, ancient rituals and traditional dances are performed.”

Stanzin Padma says, “In Chandigarh, friends are family and so we enjoy the festivities organised by the Ladakh Students Association. We take part in cultural events or exhibition or local craft that are displayed during the Losar function. Also, we have traditional scarves called khataks, which we wear on New Year to a temple visit.”

There’s a special ‘dish’ prepared on the eve of Losar called gu-thuk, which is thukpa with momos filled with nine different ingredients, like chilli, cotton, coins and many more. It’s more a fun activity and it determines the nature of the person depending on the particular type of momo he picks up.

Traditional food like mok-mok, khura, paksta-marku, paba-tangtur, sku and chu-tai are part of the Losar dinner and although these students are not expert cooks, they try to make the best out of their collaborative kitchen experience.

Know the festival

The festival starts on the first day of the 11th month officially. There is an interesting story about Losar celebration. Losar translates to (Lo) meaning year and (Sar) meaning new. The celebrations begin on the very first day of the 11th lunar month and the tradition of celebrating it on this very day has been going on since the 17th century, started by the King Jamyang Namgyal. As it is said, the king was preparing to fight against Baltistan forces, but was advised to wait until next year by an oracle. Keeping in regard the advice and to solve the problem, the king preponed the New Year celebrations in Ladakh by two months. This became established as a tradition and since then the Losar is celebrated on the first day of the eleventh month of every year.

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