Losoong 2026

About Losoong

Losoong is the harvest new year of Sikkim's Bhutia community, kept by the Lepcha as Namsoong, at the new moon that closes the tenth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. In 2026 the Sikkim holiday block begins on Wednesday, 9 December 2026. Monasteries hold masked chaam dances in the days before, and villages hold archery contests and family feasts.

Losoong is a farmers' new year. By December the harvest is in, and families close out the old farming year before the work starts again. The Bhutia call it Sonam Losoong and the Lepcha call it Namsoong. Sikkim lists it as one holiday, Losoong/Namsoong, and gives the state several days off for it.

Most of the festival happens at home, among family and friends. The public side is in the monasteries, where monks dance in masks in the days before, and in the villages, where people hold archery matches.

How the date is set

Losoong follows the Tibetan lunar calendar and begins with the new moon at the end of the tenth Tibetan month. Sources word this differently. Some call it the first day of the eleventh month and others the start of the tenth, but they point to the same December new moon. The Lepcha fix Namsoong by their own calendar, and it lands on the same days.

Because the Tibetan year adds a leap month every few years, the date moves. It usually falls in December, and sometimes the holiday spills into January, as it did when the festival ran from 31 December 2024 into the first days of 2025. The Sikkim government names the holiday days in its yearly list of public holidays (the list for 2026 was notified in October 2025), and that list is the one to follow.

The days around Losoong

1. Two days before
   Chaam dances

   Monks in masks perform the Kagyed dance and the Black Hat dance at monasteries such as Tsuklakhang in Gangtok, Phodong and Rumtek

2. The end of the dance
   Burning the effigies

   Effigies made of flour, wood and paper are burnt, a way of destroying the evil and bad luck of the old year

3. New moon
   Losoong begins

   Offerings to the deities, then the family feast; a priest first offers a special drink, chi-fut, to the gods

4. The holiday days
   Archery and visits

   Village archery matches, traditional skill contests and visits to relatives go on for several days

5. The two days after
   Nyempa Guzom

   Days counted as unlucky; many families stay in and put off new work or journeys

The Kagyed dance is the best-known part of the season. It enacts scenes from Buddhist teaching, and tradition traces cham dancing to Guru Padmasambhava, who as the story goes danced to drive a demon out of Sikkim. At Phodong the dance falls on the 28th and 29th days of the tenth month.

Sikkim's 2026 list also gives holidays for the Kagyed dance and for Nyempa Guzom, which shows how the state treats the whole stretch as one season.

Food, drink and the archery match

The table is the centre of the home festival. Families fry khapse, crisp sweet pastries, ahead of time, and make momos and gyathuk, a noodle soup. Chhang, a home-brewed millet beer, is served to guests. Not every Bhutia or Lepcha household drinks, so don't bring alcohol as a gift unless you know the family.

Archery is the game of the season, along with contests in other traditional skills. The festival is at its fullest in rural Sikkim, where the village matches run for days.

Losoong, Losar and the other new years of Sikkim

Sikkim keeps several new years, and they belong to different communities. Mixing them up is the most common mistake people make when they send a wish.

Losar is the Tibetan new year and starts the lunar year. Losoong closes the farming year and is about the harvest. Many Bhutia families keep both. For Ladakh's own new year, see Ladakhi Losar.

Outside Sikkim, Losoong and Namsoong are kept by Bhutia and Lepcha families in the Darjeeling hills.

Sonam Losoong

The Bhutia name for the festival; sonam means merit or good fortune

Namsoong

The Lepcha name for the festival

Chaam

A masked dance performed by Buddhist monks

Kagyed

The chaam held just before Losoong, ending with the burning of effigies

Chhang

Home-brewed millet beer

Khapse

Fried pastries made for Losoong and Losar

Nyempa Guzom

The two unlucky days after Losoong

Tashi Delek

A Tibetan and Bhutia greeting wishing good fortune

How to wish someone on Losoong

A good Losoong wish talks about the harvest being in and the farming year starting again: a full granary, the family at home, the chaam at the monastery, the archery match in the village. \"Losoong Tashi Delek\" is the greeting Bhutia families use; Lepcha friends say Namsoong. Many Sikkimese write in Nepali too. Don't mix it up with Losar in February, which is a separate new year, and don't assume a Nepali-speaking Sikkimese friend keeps it.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Sikkimese (Bhutia), Lepcha + Nepali.

When is Losoong in each year?

Losoong is set by the Tibetan lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 19 days later than in 2026. Losoong runs 6 days.

Frequently asked questions