Losar Tashi Delek to my neighbors

The festive season is here and I send my heartiest New Year greetings to all the lhops around. Theirs is the first of the festivals to follow; owing to the mountainous geographical landscape partitioning the regions and historically being ruled by many petty rulers there are infinite festivals in Bhutan. These festivals evolved out the belief system, myth and mythology of individual regions, some well known losars we relish are Lomba, Nyilo, Thue-Baab, Chu-nyi pai losar, nya-ru, Dassian, daw Dangpai losar etc and lhop lo is one such festivity developed on the banks of Amo chu river.

Lhop dancers adorning their ancestral dress during the inauguration of
 new court building.

These losars are usually an end product of a good harvest and provided people of differing regions with differing platforms to thank the forefathers for the tranquility bequeathed, local deities for the best harvest, friends and family for the help, relish new harvest, appreciate their input, etc and it’s also a big time to smile at the bygone years with celebrations and look ahead with hopes. Timing too is different as the growing season and harvest season differs from place to place.

Normally we follow two types of calendar in Bhutan i.e. solar and the Bhutanese lunar calendar but the lhops of Dorokha region follows the third type i.e. Tibetan lunar calendar. I am not aware of the third one and upon inquiry I learnt that theirs is a month ahead of ours. 29^th day of seventh month of the wood female sheep year in Bhutanese calendar is considered as the 29^th day of the eighth month of the wood female sheep year in Tibetan lunar calendar.

Like the 1^st day of eleventh month is a new year for haaps and parops [though celebration starts on 29^th of the tenth month] the 29^th day of 8^th month of Tibetan lunar calendar kick start a new year for the lhops and they become a year older (birthday makes less sense here). On this day families join together to have a good time and it all starts with ku (maternal uncle) making the offering. In lhop culture it’s the groom who leaves his ancestral home to join brides’ family but the maternal uncle is the sole decision maker and head of family of his ancestral home. Ku is highly respected by the family member.

The complete offering were not done at my host’s place due to recent demise of a family member and also it’s not his paternal home otherwise he’s a always on with celebrations yet I enjoyed everything that’s LHOP. I understood that the first day is just a simple one and continues for few more days with different mandatory offerings and merrymakings. Will catch up each program as it unfolds…

Please join me to wish them a prosperous year ahead…