In Buddhism

Abhidhamma

Source: Mandala Texts: Nyilo: New Year of Shar and Wang Region

Lolay (ལོ་ལེགས) is celebrated as a part of Nyilo: the Bhutanese winter solstice which roughly falls in 11^th Bhutanese month and coincides with early January. Nyilo literally means ‘the return of the sun’. [...] Lolay (ལོ་ལེགས) is celebrated as a part of Nyilo. From the Buddhist perspective, Lolay is a type of celebration aimed at blocking certain paranormal misfortunes from befalling the region and thereby promoting peace and prosperity in the region for the entire year to come. Nyilo is considered more sacred than any other day and all people are discouraged from taking part in negative activities. In Paro and Haa, Lolay comes a day ahead of Lomba (ལོ་འབག) and in Wang and Shar regions it falls one day ahead of Nyilo.

The term Lolay means ‘prosperous year’, however, it is also referred to the special performance conducted by a group of children and young men on the eve of the Nyilo and Lomba festivals. The village children gather into smaller groups and proceed from house to house, singing Lolay incantations. The children participating in Lolay Jangni (ལོ་ལེགས་བགྱང་ནི) are known as Lolay Jangme (ལོ་ལེགས་བགྱང་མི).

context information

Abhidhamma (अभिधम्म) usually refers to the last section (piṭaka) of the Pali canon and includes schematic classifications of scholastic literature dealing with Theravāda Buddhism. Primary topics include psychology, philosophy, methodology and metaphysics which are rendered into exhaustive enumerations and commentaries.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Starts with: Lolayam.

Ends with: Hillolay.

Full-text: Nyilo.

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