Tibetan New Year Soup Marks a Fresh Start

Preparing and sharing a pot of guthuk ahead of Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration, helps cleanse the past year's burdens.

Published on Feb. 13, 2026

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

As Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration, approaches, the Tibetan community in Beaverton, Oregon gathers to prepare and share a nourishing soup called guthuk. The soup, made with handmade noodles, vegetables, and meat, is a traditional part of the Nyi-shu-gu observance on the 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar. The meal includes a game where dumplings hidden in the soup contain fortunes or judgments, and the dinner culminates with a ritual banishing of negativity in the form of a dough effigy called a lue.

Why it matters

Guthuk and the associated Nyi-shu-gu rituals are an important part of the Tibetan New Year celebration, which marks the transition from an inauspicious Year of the Wood Snake to a more hopeful Year of the Fire Horse. The traditions help Tibetan communities, both in Nepal and the diaspora, cleanse the past year's burdens and prepare for a fresh start.

The details

Tenzin Yeshi, a Tibetan woman living in Beaverton, Oregon, prepares guthuk each year for Nyi-shu-gu. The soup is an adaptable Tibetan noodle dish that must contain at least nine ingredients, with the number nine being auspicious. During the meal, dumplings hidden in the soup reveal fortunes or judgments, which are seen as guidance for the new year. The dinner culminates with a ritual banishing of negativity, where a dough effigy called a lue is drenched with the last of the soup and then carried out of the house, never to be looked back upon.

  • Nyi-shu-gu, the 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar, falls on Monday this year.
  • This Losar celebration concludes the Year of the Wood Snake, a period considered inauspicious, and ushers in the Year of the Fire Horse, a more hopeful era.

The players

Tenzin Yeshi

A Tibetan woman living in Beaverton, Oregon who prepares guthuk each year for Nyi-shu-gu, the 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar.

Lobsang Wangdu

The author of 'Tibetan Home Cooking' who recalls teasing his siblings when their dumplings revealed bad fortunes during Nyi-shu-gu meals in Tibet.

Tenzin Yiga

A junior at Harvard University and president of its Undergraduate Tibetan Cultural Association, who plans to make a vegetarian version of guthuk for the group's Losar celebration.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“It was one of those little signs that made you know Losar was coming.”

— Tenzin Yeshi (New York Times)

“In Tibet, we would put all kinds of stuff in the balls. It's kind of dangerous, I'm realizing.”

— Lobsang Wangdu, Author, 'Tibetan Home Cooking' (New York Times)

“If it says I'm lazy, it's time to get motivated. It's time to lock in.”

— Tenzin Yiga, President, Harvard Undergraduate Tibetan Cultural Association (New York Times)

What’s next

The Tibetan community in Beaverton, Oregon will gather on Monday to celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year, following their Nyi-shu-gu dinner and ritual cleansing.

The takeaway

The Tibetan traditions surrounding the New Year's soup guthuk and the Nyi-shu-gu observance demonstrate how food and ritual can help a community cleanse the burdens of the past year and prepare for a fresh start, even as Tibetans have dispersed across the globe.