There are 125 ethnicities living in Nepal. Sonam Loshar is one of the main festivals of Tamang ethnicity group. Loshar is composed of two Tibetan words. ‘Lo’ means new and ‘shar’ means year. The word Loshar means New Year in all. It means celebrating new era. Tamang ethnicity celebrates their New Year on full moon day of Magh. In other words, it is celebrated on day after tomorrow day of no-moon day. The day is called as Magh Sukla Pratipada.
When is Sonam Loshar?
Sonam Loshar falls generally on full moon day of Magh. It falls in different dates on every year of Bikram Sambat and English calendar. Tamang has a tradition of counting New Year with symbol of 12 different animals. They start counting with Rats and ends with Boar. Sonam Loshar is on January, 25 2020 (Saturday) this year. Nepali date is on Magh-11, 2076 (sanivaar).
How to celebrate Sonam Loshar?
New Year celebration varies from person to person and culture to culture. The monasteries and stupas perform a ritual mask dance to expel out the negative forces. People visit Stupas, Chaityas and perform their own ceremonial rituals. According to the Buddhist ritual, they go to the near monasteries for pray. People buy new dresses for their children. They decorate their houses, clean and sweep to welcome the new vibes. According to the ritual, they sweep and clean clearly all over their house on the beginning day to sweep away all the bad fortunes. They try for new things and decorate their windows and doors to welcome the good fortune. The cook meal and have together and enjoy. They also sacrifice pig, duck, hen, buffalo, sheep, etc. Tamang girls and boys perform musical dance naming Tamang Selo. They conduct programmes and wear their cultural dresses.
Nowadays Tamangs in capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu gather in nearby place Tudikhel and celebrate there. Tamangs are seen in their cultural dress. They conduct their pooja, Lok Dohori competitions, Drama and Food festivals. Tudikhel is the open public garden in the heart of Kathmandu city. Families and relatives get together and have a meal. They sing plenty of folk songs and famous Tamang Selo songs. The group accompanies a circle and plays a small round drum Damphu.
Loshar brings joy to all Tamang family and Nepali as a whole.
Tamang and their history
Tamang is one of the largest communities. About 8% of population is cover in Nepal. Tamang are the original people of Yambu and very ancient tribe. Tamang is a word compose of two words. ‘Ta’ means horse and ‘mang’ means Rider. They are considered as Horse warriors, tamang people are connect with horse trading. Tamang are find in Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Dolakha, Sindupalchok, Kavrepalanchok, Ramechhap, Makwanpur and Chitwan. People are very rich in culture and traditions. They believe in Buddhism. 90% of tamang are Buddhist. The musical instrument of Tamang is Damphu. They sings their cultural folk song Tamang Selo.
