Losoong (Namsoong)

Losoong (also called Namsoong) is the Sikkimese New Year, marking the end of the harvest season for the Bhutia and Lepcha communities. Gompas hold cham (masked) dances that drive out the old year's evil spirits before the new one begins.

The end of the harvest year for both the Bhutia and Lepcha communities — one marking a new year, the other the close of the agricultural cycle. The masked dances are as much about clearing out the old year as welcoming the new one.

Monasteries around Gangtok — Tsuklakhang, Phodong, Rumtek among them — stage cham dances in the days before Losoong, while homes brew chaang, families feast, and archery contests fill village grounds. Offerings of the harvest are made, and the festival closes with prayers for a fruitful new year.

Losoong is the Bhutia new year and Namsoong the Lepcha one, and they fall together in December once the harvest is in. What visitors actually come for is the cham — masked monastic dances held at the gompas in the days before, at Rumtek, Phodong and Enchey among others, where the masks are of protector deities and the last dance drives out the year. Away from the monasteries it is a household festival: houses are cleaned, chaang is brewed, and there is archery, which in Sikkim is a serious competitive matter rather than a diversion. Dates move with the Tibetan calendar, so check locally rather than assuming late December.