In Sikkim, Losoong or Namsoong, the festival of Sikkimese New Year, is being celebrated with traditional gaiety and enthusiasm today. The festival, also known as the Sonam Losar or the farmers’ New Year, marks the end of the harvest season. The ethnic Bhutia and Lepcha communities of the State welcome the New Year .Lama dances are performed at monasteries to symbolically ward of the evil spirits of the past year and to invoke the benign spirits of the benign ones to greet coming year with peace and prosperity. The festivities last for about a week.<br/><br/>