Losar: The holy eve
 

The most important holiday in Tibet is Losar, which celebrates the Tibetan New Year. It's celebrated in February, but the exact date varies each year according to the lunar calendar. Losar is marked with activities that symbolize purification, and welcoming in the new.

Losar is a three day festival. On the first day celebrations are usually restricted to the family, with the second and third days being the time to visit and exchange gifts with friends and more distant relatives.

In the times when Tibetans practised the Bon religion, every winter a festival was held where people offered large quantities of incense to please local spirits and deities. This festival eventually became the annual Buddhist festival we know today.

Losar is also celebrated in Nepal and India as well, where there is a strong concentration of the Buddhist population in the states like Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal and Ladakh in Kashmir. The Monpa tribe of Tawang and the Memba of the Mechukha valley of Arunachal celebrate Losar. Yet the Memba of Mechukha celebrate Losar one month earlier than the other Losar-celebrating peoples.