Pilgrims light butter lamps to pray for the Tibetan New Year at a temple in Lhasa of Tibet, China. The Tibetan New Year, also known as "Losar," falls on February 22 this year, and is celebrated on the first day of the lunar year.
- [China Photos/AFP/Getty Images]

Pilgrims turn a prayer wheel at a temple to mark the Tibetan New Year. Turning the prayer wheel is an important religious activity of Tibetan people, in which they pray for good luck and happiness.
- [China Photos/AFP/Getty Images]

Tibetan people hang Prayer Flags to pray for the Tibetan New Year at a mountain in Lhasa of Tibet, China. The Prayer Flag is one of the important Tibetan Buddhist ritual items, which are traditionally hung outside temples, at holy sites, atop mountain summits or anywhere open, where the prayers may meet the wind. Prayer flags are said to invoke peace, wisdom, strength, and to offer protection against dangers and evil.
- [China Photos/AFP/Getty Images]

A Tibetan man drinks wine after a praying during a ceremony to mark the Tibetan New Year.
- [China Photos/AFP/Getty Images]

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama participates in a Tibetan New Year celebration as he arrives at the Park Hyatt hotel in Washington, DC in 2010, where he met with President Obama and Hillary Clinton. The 74-year-old monk has lived in exile in India since 1959.
- [Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images]

Tibetan devotees light candles to mark Losar at Boudha on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
- [Strdel/AFP/Getty Images]

Dancers perform at the Tibetan Buddhist Lama temple in Beijing on the eve of the Tibetan New Year. Tibetans are planning to boycott their New Year celebrations this year to protest against Chinese rule.
- [Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images]

A Tibetan monk launches a ballooon with prayer flags attached into the air at the Jokhang, Tibet's most revered religious structure in Lhasa on Tibetan New Year's Day. Tibetans traditionally celebrate their New Year with pilgrims who flock to Lhasa from all over Tibet.
- [Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images]

A Tibetan Buddhist monk blows a conch shell as he takes part in a prayer session celebrating the beginning of the first day of the Tibetan New Year at The Tsuglak Khang Temple in Dharamsala.
- [Stringer/AFP/Getty Images]

A young Tibetan boy hangs prayer flags during a prayer session on the third day of Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Tibetans believe that the flags will spread the prayers when the wind blows through them.
- [Stringer/AFP/Getty Images]