Dharamshala: In the early hours of Tibetan New Year on 18 February 2026, marking the 2153rd Losar and the advent of the Fire-Horse Year, the leadership and staff of the Central Tibetan Administration—joined by former leaders and staff—assembled on the rooftop of the Thekchen Choeling Tsuglagkhang in Dharamshala to observe the traditional offering of Tsetor, the ritual sacrificial cake, to the Dharma Protector, Palden Lhamo.

This ceremony, a tradition maintained for more than five centuries by successive Dalai Lamas since the time of the Second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso, commenced with invocation prayers led by the monks of Namgyal Monastery. The proceedings then continued in the main prayer hall of the Tsuglagkhang, where Speaker Khepo Sonam Tenphel and Sikyong Penpa Tsering presented a mandala before the portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Historical accounts trace the origin of this sacred observance to the Second Dalai Lama, who established the practice after revealing the holy site of Lhamo Latso and conducting an elaborate Tsetor offering there. This significant act laid the foundation for an enduring tradition that continues to this day.