The 13th edition of the "Khumbu Lhosar Cup" which has been held for the past 12 years to mark the New Year Lhosar, the great festival of the Sherpa community, begins today.
KATHMANDU, Feb 2: The Tamang community is celebrating Sonam Lhosar, meaning New Year, by organizing various programs 0n Wednesday.
According to the Manjushree calendar, the 2858th year starts from today. From today, the tiger year enters after completing the cow year. Sonam Lhosar festival is celebrated every year on the occasion of Magh Shukla Pratipada with various programs.
Sonam Lhosar is divided into 12 categories: rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon (cloud), snake, horse, sheep, monkey, bird, dog and pig.
The festival is specially celebrated in different districts of the Bagmati region where people from the Tamang community are predominant. The government has given a public holiday across the country on the occasion of the festival to be celebrated on Wednesday this year.
People from the Gurung community marked the 'Tamu Lhosar' as the New Year on Thursday.
In Gurung language, 'Lho' means year and 'Sar' means change and change in the year is called 'Tamu Lhosar'.
Gurungs are bidding farewell to 'Cow year' and welcoming 'Tiger year' from today [Thursday].
The government also announced a public holiday on the occasion of Tamu Lhosar.
The members of the Gurung community mark the festival with much fanfare by organizing feasts and cultural programs. Major Gurung settlements in Nepal lie in Lamjung, Gorkha, Tanahun, Syangja, Manang, Kaski and Parbat districts in western Nepal.
The festival is also popularly known as Paush 15 as it is observed on the 15th of the Nepali month of Paush (December-end).
Tamu Lhosar is also associated with the rays of the sun.
Here are some photos taken during a program in the capital on Thursday.
