{"id":3949,"date":"2020-02-19T06:58:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T06:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=3949"},"modified":"2020-02-18T18:59:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T18:59:50","slug":"happy-losar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=3949","title":{"rendered":"Happy Losar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Inside the Rubin Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Losar, the Himalayan New Year, was celebrated at the Rubin Museum of Art on Sunday, February 16, with lots of excited kids and their families. The holiday, which takes place on different dates in different Buddhist countries (Tibet<\/a>, Bhutan<\/a>, Nepal<\/a>, India<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a>), goes on for fifteen days although most of the celebration is on the first three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s zodiac animal is technically the rat but the Rubin morphed it into the mouse, probably a little friendlier for kids. The element associated with the year is metal, “element” being a concept that seemed challenging to most of the little ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI volunteered for the day and was assigned to the Metal Mouse area where\nkids got tinfoil, wire and help when needed to make their own mice. Here is my\nmouse, hardly a thing of beauty but mine own. Some of the mice made by both\nkids and volunteers were fabulous.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My mouse<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The kids were adorable but not so all the parents\u2014I witnessed helicopter parenting up close as some moms and dads insisted on doing the whole project themselves to \u201cget it right.\u201d (To be fair, others dropped their progeny off –these kids did just fine.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day included singing, dancing, other art projects including a butter sculpture demo and making something similar, mouse mask-making and a scavenger hunt. On a break I visited the top floor to see the current exhibit, Measure Your Existence,<\/em> that includes an area where you are invited to take paper and pencil and write to someone in your past expressing gratitude, regret or what you will and leaving the letter unsigned to be read by other visitors. (Or sign it and the Rubin will mail it.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another exhibit is what at first looked like an ostrich egg but turned out to be a sort of egg-shaped form of wound string the exact length of the Indian-Pakistan border. Still another work incorporated a video of an artist who punched a time clock once every hour 24\/7 for 365 days. The description explains that he \u201chad to rearrange his life around this one gesture.\u201d No kidding. (Existence<\/em> runs through August 10 so, if you want to see it you have ample time.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The artist punching a time clock every hour<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Rubin is an elegant,\nusually quiet space occupying the building where Barney\u2019s was originally (7th<\/sup>\nAvenue and 17th<\/sup> Street.) On Sunday it was far from quiet but\neveryone appeared to be having a great time. At lunch time volunteers were\nserved that Himalayan fave, pizza, dashing from the main museum to the\neducation center down the block minus coats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a more Losar-like eating experience, make Tibetan Sweet Rice<\/strong> or Dresil’, a dish\nthat’s popular in many Buddhist countries on special occasions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n

Tibetan Sweet Rice<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2 cups basmati\nrice, uncooked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water (for cooking rice)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into\nsmall pieces<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/2 cup unsalted cashew nuts, whole\nor halves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 cup raisins 1\/4 cup dried apricots\n(or other dried fruit)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/4 cup granulated sugar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook the rice as specified and with\nrecommended amount of water as directed on package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When rice is done and still hot,\nstir in the butter, cashews, raisins, apricots (and any other dried fruit being\nused), and sugar.\n\nTraditionally, Dresil is served with a bit of\ndri (a Tibetan sweet, creamy butter from female yaks). As there probably isn\u2019t\na yak in your area, let alone a female,  just switch this up for regular sweet butter\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From what I\u2019ve read some eat this as a kind of rice pudding dessert. Others serve it as a side dish with spicy chicken wings or another spicy dish. Tibetans drink a special kind of beer at the start of Losar. You could do the same with the beer of your choice, water or whatever you feel contributes to a festive New Year\u2019s celebration. May you have a splendid Year of the Rat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Losar, the Himalayan New Year, was celebrated at the Rubin Museum of Art on Sunday, February 16, with lots of excited kids and their families. The holiday, which takes place on different dates in different Buddhist countries (Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[562,189],"class_list":["post-3949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-himalayan-yak","tag-rice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3949"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3971,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions\/3971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}