LOSAR- 2147 Tibetan Year of the Iron Mouse

Losar (Tibetan: ལོ་གསར་, Wylie: lo-gsar; “new year”) is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. This year, the Tibetan Losar (New Year) Festival falls on Monday, February 24th, 2020. While the Gregorian calendar is a purely solar calendar, the Tibetan calendar (Tibetan: ལོ་ཐོ, Wylie: lo-tho) is a lunisolar calendar. This means that the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year.

Tibetans consider Losar to be an auspicious time of year to renew ones life. This year is the Year of the Iron Mouse of 2147 according to the Tibetan lunar calendar. Losar related rituals fall into two different parts.  On the 29th day of the 12th month, Buddhists, like all Tibetans, say goodbye to the old year and let go of all its negative or bad aspects. Part of this involves cleaning one’s home or room from top to bottom, including any stairs outside.Tibetans all over the world will celebrate by making  a special Tibetan festive noodle soup (gu-thuk) to be enjoyed later that night. The 30th day is a busy day spent cooking and preparing for the new year. The next day, the Losar or “new year” is welcomed with wholesome prayers and by inviting all good, auspicious things into our homes and our lives. As with all auspicious celebrations Tibetans begin by paying homage and making offerings to the Three Jewels.

Join us on Sunday, February 23rd at the Buddhist Institute where we will celebrate this auspicious holiday and Geshe-la will make everyone a special batch of his authentically scrumptious, vegetarian gu-thuk. Festivities to begin after Sunday Service at 10:00 AM.

Tibetan Astrology ““ Mouse

Direction: north

Fix element: water

Hour: 11 am -1 am

Metal mouse: 1840, 1900, 1960
Water mouse: 1852, 1912,1972
Wood mouse: 1864, 1924, 1984
Fire mouse: 1876, 1936, 1996
Earth mouse: 1888, 1948, 2008

Favourable day: wednesday

Favourable day for health: tuesday

Bad day: saturday

Good harmony with: Monkey, Dragon, Mouse, Buffalo, Rabbit, Snake

Bad harmony with: Horse, Cock, Sheep

Qualities: charm, intelligence, imagination, parsimony, love to be with others, sociality, quickness, sense of humor, love devotion, romanticism, sense of danger.

Lacks: opportunism, individualism, aggressiveness, stinginess, passionality, over-ambitions, nervousness, possessiveness, selfishness, greed, loves gossip and criticism.

Favourable planet: Mercury, Mars

Non-favourable planet: Saturn

Additional notes: it is said that mouse natives born during the day and in summer are particularly lucky. Infance and old age are favourable, the intermediate part of life is less lucky.