Thanks to Ann M.
Each year, the Tibetan Nuns Project sells a wall calendar through our online store. Our 2021 Tibetan Nuns Project calendar is available for order now.
The Tibetan Calendar vs. the Gregorian Calendar
The Tibetan calendar is thousands of years old and is different from the Gregorian calendar, which is the international standard used almost everywhere in the world for civil purposes. The Gregorian calendar modified the earlier Julian calendar, reducing the average year from 365.25 days to 365.2425 days and spacing leap years.
While the Gregorian calendar is a purely solar calendar, the Tibetan calendar (Tibetan: ལོ་ཐོ, Wylie: lo-tho) is a lunisolar calendar. This means that the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year.
Front and back of the 2021 Tibetan Nuns Project calendar. The calendar has the Tibetan lunar calendar and ritual dates, as well as phases of the moon and major US and Canadian holidays. $12 each through the Tibetan Nuns Project online store.
In the traditional Tibetan calendar, each year is associated with an animal, an element, and a number. January 1st through February 11th, 2021 are the last weeks of the Tibetan year 2147.
Tibetan New Year or Losar falls on February 12th, 2021. The year of the Iron Ox, 2148, begins on this day. The year of the Water Tiger, 2149, begins on March 3, 2022.
The animals in the Tibetan calendar are somewhat similar to those in the Chinese zodiac and are in the following order: Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Bird, Dog, and Boar. The five elements are in this order: Fire, Earth, Iron, Water, and Wood.
Tibetan Buddhist nuns preparing butter scultpure decorations for Losar, Tibetan New Year. This is one of the photos in the 2021 Tibetan Nuns Project calendar.
Tibetan New Year vs. Chinese New Year
This year, 2021, Tibetan New Year and Chinese New Year fall on the same date, February 12th. However, this is not always the case.