Every year on 1 January, billions of people from America to Australia pop champagne bottles to welcome the New Year. A month later in February, the Chinese spread in different corners of the globe celebrate the beginning of their lunar year. However, Buddhist Nepalis who have adopted the same lunar calendar, celebrate separately on different days as part of disparate ethnic communities.
If citizens from so many countries across the world can come together on one single day despite their differences, why can’t we Tamangs, Gurungs, Hyolmos, Sherpas do the same? Our religion, customs, way of life, and mindsets unite us, so why don’t we toast to our common heritage? We talk a lot about ‘unity in diversity’, but it’s a pity we don’t practice what we preach.
Some will argue that we all have different cultures and traditions and need to preserve our uniqueness. But the Chinese too are vastly different. They speak two languages and hundreds of dialects and every few kilometres one notices a change in culture. And yet all Chinese get together for the festivities. On the other hand, locals of Solukhumbu and Helambu who are both ethnic Sherpas and share similar traditions celebrate Losar on different days.
Advocates of different Losars say that myths and stories dictate when a particular community’s New Year’s day falls on. However, these claims are baseless. In fact, all communities who follow the lunar calendar should celebrate on the same day as China because this is historically and scientifically accurate. Many will vehemently oppose this proposal and claim that our identities will be compromised and sidelined by Chinese cultures. But consider this: we are not bowing down to China, but respecting an ancient civilisation that took thousands of years to be what it is today. Besides no one will become a Chinese overnight just by having the same date for New Year’s.
To move with the times even India, which is where the Bikram Sambat calendar originated, despite its diversity has opted to follow Gregorian dates. The Indians have not turned into Englishmen overnight, and neither will we wake up as Chinese.
In a globalised world, we cannot afford to isolate ourselves. I sincerely hope that next year, all Buddhist sisters and brothers from Beijing to Beshisahar, New York to Nuwakot, Tokyo to Tansen, Seoul to Solukhumbu can keep aside their differences and unite in a genuine show of kinship. And here is my resolution for the year of the snake: let the next Losar be a Losar of unity.