Tibetan New Year
Tashi delek - བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས
A new year begins in Tibet
Song, dance, and fireworks as Tibetans celebrate Losar. Wang Yan reports.
Their homes smelling of fresh paint, Tibetan families dressed in their newest best, welcomed their New Year, or Losar, with food, wine, dancing, singing - and fireworks. The biggest festival of the year for Tibetans, which began on Saturday, will last for about two weeks.
Like most of his fellow Tibetans in Lhasa, Tenzin Dawa and his family are up at the crack of dawn on the first day of the new year.
Tibetans swamp markets ahead of new year
LHASA -- Business was booming on Friday at Barkhor Bazaar, one of the most famous markets in Tibet, as hordes of shoppers geared up to celebrate the Tibetan Losar new year.
Despite March traditionally being a slow month for traders in Lhasa, capital of the autonomous region, stalls have been swamped ahead of celebrations to welcome the Year of the Iron Rabbit, which starts on Saturday.
A Tibetan girl tries on a traditional dress in Lhasa on Friday ahead of the region's new year celebrations.
VIDEO - Beating the ghost
The "Beating the Ghost" ceremony, or "Da Gui" in Chinese, an important Tibetan Buddhist ritual, was held at the Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing on March 4, 2011.
The ceremony is held annually on the eve of the Tibetan New Year, which begins March 5 this year. It is believed to expel evil spirits, shake off trouble and pacify the world.
SLIDESHOW - Tibetan New Year 2011
Tibetan New Year prep - VIDEO
The Tibetan New Year falls on March 5 this year. While Tibetan people are doing their last minute new-year shopping, China Daily's multimedia reporter Feng Xin is in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet autonomous region. She takes you to explore some New Year goods you've never seen.
See Kaixin's - CHINA & TIBET
China and Tibet - Xi Zang 西藏
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that," Dalai Lama
