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Many Bhutanese communities celebrate a losar (ལོ་གསར་) or New Year on the first day of the twelfth month in the common Bhutanese calendar. It is the beginning of the year according to the astrological calculations presented in the Lama Gongdue (བླ་མ་དགོངས་འདུས་) teachings of Sangay Lingpa. As it is observed at the beginning of the twelfth month in the common Bhutanese calendar which was aligned with the Tibetan calendar, which in turn was based on Mongolian calendar, many centuries ago, the New Year is today known as the New Year of the twelfth month (བཅུ་གཉིས་པའི་ལོ་གསར་). It is very likely that this day was the beginning of the year before the common calendar become popular.

The National Memorial Chorten, venue for the 3rd Royal Bhutan Flower Exhibition, was built to honour the memory of His late Majesty King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, and for peace to prevail in this world.

It is believed that the construction of a chorten generates enormous merit, which will benefit all living beings on earth. It had been His late Majesty the Third Druk Gyalpo’s cherished dream to build a magnificent chorten in Thimphu for the benefit of all sentient beings. After His Majesty passed away in 1972, the chorten was built in memory of the King, under the patronage of His Majesty’s mother, Her Majesty Phuntsho Choden.

Today, it is an important landmark in Thimphu, and a place for devotees across the social spectrum to offer prayers and circumambulate.

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