Losar, revisited

These are a few telling images from the festival we celebrated last week.

1. The guys in costume were performing at a refugee camp, where there was about an hour and a half of concert type goings-on. These were by far the most interestingly dressed of the day. They were swinging those baton-like things and singing and dancing traditional dances. I'm not sure of the meaning of all of it. . .
2. Inside a friend's home. This room was decked out for the festival, but normally has most of these elements regardless of the time of year. The extras for Losar are the piles of food and white scarves on the table in front of the pictures. Think of this when you remember me here. Those three window pane type boxes at the lefthand top of the picture are idols. The offerings are mounded up for them, but they don't eat, and they have eyes, but they don't see, ears and don't hear, etc. Let the weight of this sink in as you think of me and people here, asking him that people would see these things for what they really are.

3. This little guy was a tyrant during the day we spent at his home. He actually belongs to our landlord's daughter upstairs, but he (and his little friend in the picture below it) were a tad drunk that day. For the guy tugging on my pantleg, his exposure to the spirits (in both senses of the word) resulted in aggression. . .the little guy on the bike just looked out of it the entire time. Be asking Father that little ones like these would see the futility of the system they are following, even at this young age.