Gyalpo Lhosar is being celebrated with much fanfare by organizing various cultural programs across the country today.
This is the main festival of Sherpa community. The Sherpa people from young to the elderly have gathered at Boudha in Kathmandu to observe the festival as the beginning of the New Year.
This festival recognizes a 12-year cycle. Each year within the cycle is associated with the name of an animal or bird: Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. After the 12 years complete, the cycle begins anew, repeating the same sequence of animal and bird names.
The festival is celebrated every year from Falgun Shukla Pratipada, the second day of the waxing moon, to the full moon, for a week.
According to the Sherpa community, the festival traces its origins to the reign of the ninth Tibetan king, Ude Gungyal, when it was first observed as a spring festival.
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