The Tibetan Losar New Year

On Monday, February 23, 2026, IU held a celebration to mark Tibetan Losar (New Year), the year of the fire horse, which fell on February 18 this year. This is the year 2153 in the Tibetan calendar. Gedun Rabsal from the Department of Central Eurasian Studies introduced Minyak Rinpoche, the current director of the Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (TMBCC), and Tenpa Phuntsok, TMBCC’s manager, who opened the celebration with prayers for an auspicious year. Eveline Washul from the Department of Central Eurasian Studies continued a tradition started by Professor György Kara for Mongolian New Year and Professor Elliot Sperling for Tibetan New Year of noting historical events that happened in each year of the fire horse up to the present. Öner Özçelik, Chair of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, remarked on the unique history of Tibetan Studies at IU, with this year marking the 60th anniversary of when the 14th Dalai Lama’s eldest brother, Takster Rinpoche Thupten Jigme Norbu, was invited to IU and began teaching here. In attendance were Takster Rinpoche’s family, his sons Lhundup Norbu and Kunga Norbu, and daughter-in-law, Terry Norbu. Members from the Tibetan community of Bloomington, which included IU students, performed traditional Tibetan New Year’s songs and the gathered attendees helped themselves to a delicious spread of Tibetan momos, noodles, tea, and special new year’s pastries and sweet rice prepared by Anyetsang’s Little Tibet Restaurant. The event concluded with attendees joining members of the Bloomington Tibetan community in a lively circle dance that wound around the entire atrium floor. The event was made possible through the co-sponsorship of the Central Eurasian Studies Department, the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, the East Asian Studies Center, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Center for the Study of Global Change.