Rituals, gatherings mark Tibetan New Year

People choose a date a few days before Losar to clean their homes. This date is usually selected based on the Tibetan calendar, and monks are asked for advice on which day the ceremony should be held.

Known as dudchak, or cleanup, the ceremony must only be held on certain days of the Tibetan calendar.

On the day selected, family members empty their household trash in a certain direction outside their home, with the direction varying each year. Tibetan people believe that cleaning on a certain day brings them good luck and drives away evil in the coming 12 months.

On the 29th day of the 12th month in the Tibetan calendar, just before Losar, people traditionally eat guthuk, a stew with nine ingredients, to prepare for a fruitful new year.

The stew is prepared from yak meat, cheese, vegetables, dough balls, with some of the latter containing symbolic ingredients such as salt, pepper and beans, or even thread, wool, paper and coal dust.

Dekyi Drolma, a Lhasa resident, said: "Every ingredient has a meaning. If you taste a dough ball made with pepper, it means you have a sharp tongue, but a soft heart."

According to Tibetan beliefs, if a person picks a dough ball that is too salty, it means he or she is lazy. Selecting one made with beans indicates a person is not good at making decisions, while a wool filling indicates a good heart, and a paper filling means a person is gullible.

Hearty pots of guthuk are enjoyed during Losar, and the ritual involved in making this meal is also a way to educate the younger generation in choosing between good and bad.