Lhosar: Tibetan New Year

Earlier this month Tibetans around the world celebrated the Tibetan New Year. The Tibetan New Year is based on the Lunar calendar. In places like Tibet the festival is celebrated for 15 days. Here in Nepal Tibetans generally celebrate for the first 3 main days. This year we were blessed to be able to spend some time with our neighbors in their home as well as attend an event in our community with several of our national friends. We had a great time. Keane and Gracie got pretty tired in the middle of the day so I took them home to nap but Ryan stayed for a few more hours. Getting to celebrate special events like this with our friends here always proves to be a special time and we ALWAYS learn a lot...even after 5 1/2 years of living here we learn new things every day. For more information about Lhosar click here.

Keane and Gracie with our downstairs neighbor's daughter during our visit in their home.

Wearing our Traditional Tibetan dresses (called chubas) to celebrate the special few days

Our teammate Haleigh with Gracie on our way to the party

Some traditional dancing at the event

The local Tibetan homemade alcohol called "chang". Chang can be made from many different grains. This one is made from millet. Read more about it here

The food that was served at the party. They also had pork fat and buffalo meat but since it was buffet style I decided to go vegetarian for the day. On my plate there is rice (bhat), beans (dal), curried vegetables and a spicy pickled sauce on the side. You will also notice the 'spork' that they gave us to eat with. People mainly eat with their hands here but more and more people are eating with spoons. Forks are rare in most local homes but utensils in general are starting to gain popularity, mainly in the cities.

The line for the food

A Tibetan woman from a Himalayan mountain people group of Nepal carrying her baby in a basket on her back strapped to her head. I find this so amazing. The women will stand and rock their babies this way as well as carry them around town anywhere they need to go. This is the Tibetan equivalent of a Baby Bjorn and I love it!

Our family with our two amazing teammates.

Some sweet girls at the party.

Some local women dancing out in the courtyard.

So thankful to get to be a part of special events like this. Happy Belated Tibetan New Year!!!!