Losar

The New Year observed throughout East Asia is not a particularly Buddhist celebration, but for Buddhists at least a part of the day is usually spent visiting a nearby temple, as is the case in the Tet celebrations in Vietnamese communities. For Chinese, this is the time for the Lion Dance and for visiting the temple to honor the ancestors, offer prayers, and engage in fortune-telling to seek some clues about prospects for the upcoming year. In the Tibetan tradition, Losar comes in either February or March. Special Losar cookies and other deep-fried pastries are molded into extravagant shapes. Songkran, the Thai New Year, takes place in late March or April. Temple grounds are cleaned, images of the Buddha are bathed with perfumed water, and renewed with gold leaf.