[2] The holiday is celebrated on various dates depending on location (Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India) tradition.

The variation of the festival in Nepal is called Lhosar and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar.

[5] Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion.

On the first day of Losar, a beverage called changkol is made from chhaang (a Tibetan-Nepali equivalent of beer).

[11] In Tibet, various customs are associated with the holiday: Families prepare for Losar some days in advance by thoroughly cleaning their homes; decorating with fragrant flowers and their walls with auspicious signs painted in flour such as the sun, moon, or a reversed swastika; and preparing cedar, rhododendron, and juniper branches for burning as incense.

Debts are settled, quarrels are resolved, new clothes are acquired, and special foods such as kapse (fried twists) are made.

[12] Modern celebration of the holiday began in Bhutan in 1637, when Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal commemorated the completion of the Punakha Dzong with an inaugural ceremony, in which "Bhutanese came from all over the country to bring offerings of produce from their various regions, a tradition that is still reflected in the wide variety of foods consumed during the ritual Losar meals.

"[12] Traditional foods consumed on the occasion include sugarcane and green bananas, which are considered auspicious.