Tamu is another name of Gurung community of Nepal. Who are the indigenous inhabitants of west-central parts of Nepal. Losar means New Year, a beginning of Gurung’s New Year. It marks the beginning of the Tamu Sambhat or gurung calendar year.
In big cities, Gurungs come together to celebrate Tamu Losar (Gurung’s New Year) at a common place and rejoice in various cultural processions, feasting and greetings.
In older times, mostly in villages, they gathered in a courtyards to celebrate Losar. In kathmandu, it is celebrated by mass from different places of Nepal in Tundikhel ground. Making the place vibrant with colorful stalls and people wearing traditional dress.
As the Poush month itself marks the end of winter and start of the spring which brings warmness and charm to the festival itself.
Gurung community all across the world celebrate Loshar by organizing different traditional programs and rallies in their traditional attires. This day in Loshar is an opportunity for the foreigner nationals who are traveling to Nepal to witness the cultural aspect of Gurung community.
Gurungs divide time into cycles of 12 years (lohokor), to each year of which a special name is given, which is known as Barga (lho). Losar also heralds the change in ‘Lho’. According to the oriental astrological system, there are 12 lhos–garuda, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, bird, dog, deer, mouse, cow, tiger and cat. Therefore, each year is marked by a particular animal and they are arranged in a single circle (on paper), closely following the Tibetan calendar with its’ 12 animals. In early days, when there was no calendar system in Nepal, the 12 rotation system was used to calculate peoples’ ages.