Losar Family Day Online 2021

Celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year observed throughout the Himalayas and all over the world, with an afternoon of family-friendly art making and fun inspired by the year of the Metal Ox. You’ll learn about traditional Losar celebrations and this year’s zodiac animal, the wise and determined Metal Ox. Join us virtually and make your own ox horns, paint with flour, construct prayer flags, and let your creativity go wild!

Losar Family Day Activities

Adorned Horns

Create Metal Ox horns by using an everyday material: tinfoil! Working with foil lets you sculpt with an unusual material and is a celebration of this year’s astrological sign of the Metal Ox. Adorn your horns and embrace the ox’s wise nature with us this Losar!

Festive Flour

Families prepare for Losar by thoroughly cleaning their homes, decorating with fragrant flowers, and adorning the walls with signs of good fortune painted in flour, such as the sun and moon. Inspired by this tradition, use flour and spices in your home to create your own lucky symbols and explore different ways of painting!

Powerful Prayer Flags

People hang prayer flags to welcome the New Year and bring forth good fortune. It is believed that when the wind blows the flags, the prayers printed on the surface are read and spread blessings and positive energy across the area. Create your own prayer flags at home with your personal intentions and prayers for the New Year.

Gorshye: Dance with YindaYin

Join YindaYin Coaching in a traditional end-of-gathering dance, known as gorshey (circle dance)! The YindaYin Coaching Center in Jackson Heights, Queens, demonstrates how Losar is celebrated in Tibet and shares their vision for the future of education in New York’s Tibetan refugee community. Children from the YindaYin School will perform traditional Tibetan dance and invite you to dance with them from home!

Cooking Khapsey

Tibetan families celebrate Losar by spending time with family and friends, singing, dancing, and having special foods and drinks. Khapsey pastries, the “Losar cookie,” are a staple during this holiday. Indulge in the traditional flavors of Losar from the comfort of your own home as you follow this cooking demonstration led by Tsering Youdon from Himalayan Pantry and the Rubin’s own Tashi Chodron, Assistant Manager of Himalayan Cultural Programs & Partnerships at the Rubin Museum of Art.

Losar and Family Sundays are made possible through the generosity of Agnes Gund, New York Life Insurance Company*, The Prospect Hill Foundation, Tiger Baron Foundation, Con Edison, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

General operating support of the Rubin Museum of Art is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as by generous donations from the Museum’s Board of Trustees, individual donors, and members.

*”NEW YORK LIFE” and the NEW YORK LIFE Box Logo are trademarks of New York Life Insurance Company. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.