ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།
losar la tashi delek
To say "happy losar" in Tibetan, use ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། (losar la tashi delek).
The phrase is a traditional greeting used to wish someone a happy Tibetan New Year. A common way to express this is Losar Tashi Delek.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase breaks down as follows: lo means year, sar means new, la means to or on and tashi delek means auspicious good fortune or well-being. Literally, it translates to "new year to auspiciousness and well-being".
How do you pronounce it?
losar la tashi delek
When do people say it?
When wishing someone a happy Losar, it is common to offer a khatag, which is a ceremonial white scarf that symbolizes purity, goodwill and respect.
Did you know?
- During Losar celebrations, it is customary to prepare 'guthug', a traditional dough-based dish where small lucky charms or objects are hidden inside the noodles.
- While Losar is the general term for the New Year, the date of the greeting varies across Tibet. Depending on the region, the celebration may follow the lunar calendar or the Tibetan solar calendar, meaning people in different areas may wish each other happy losar on different days.
- The greeting tashi delek is so versatile that it is used throughout the year as a general hello or a way to wish someone luck, regardless of the holiday.
Example conversation
Rinchen meets Lhamo on the street during the festival.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenལྷ་མོ་ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།Lha mo lo gsar la bkra shis bde legs!Lhamo, happy Losar!
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoརིནཅེན་ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།Rin chen lo gsar la bkra shis bde legs!Rinchen, happy Losar!
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenདགེ་འཕེལ་ཡོང་བར་ཤོག།dge 'phel yong bar shog!May prosperity come to you!
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ།thugs rje che!Thank you.
