The 1st day of the 12th lunar month is celebrated as New Year’s Day according to the custom of the ancient land of Zhang Zhung that included a vast geographical area including Tibet, parts of Nepal, and the area previously known as Persia. In 2025, this date coincides with January 30th on the Western calendar.

This New Year’s Day, or Losar in the Tibetan language, was celebrated jointly by the countries of Zhang Zhung and Tibet as one of their most important festivals. Even after the fall of the Zhang Zhung empire, the country of Tibet continued to celebrate the “first month of Spring ruled by the Gyal star” as the start of the New Year. However, during the period of the Mongol-backed Sakya rule of Tibet, use of the Zhang Zhung based calendrical system was ended and the celebration of the New Year became known as The Royal New Year. This is the 1st lunar day of the 1st lunar month of the Tibetan calendrical system and in 2025 coincides with February 28th.

Still, Zhang Zhung New Year, known as Sonam Losar (Agricultural New Year) by farmers, or Lambing New Year by nomads, continues to be widely celebrated throughout areas of Dolpo, Nepal, India, Ladakh, and Tibet. This is an important celebration and preservation of an ancient culture.

For those celebrating today as New Year’s Day it is the beginning of the Year of the Female Wood Snake. For more information about the astrological sign of the Snake, see previous article: https://ravencypresswood.com/2025/01/25/the-twelve-animals-of-tibetan-astrology-the-snake-3/

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