Once a year, at the end of the twelfth Tibetan month, the monastery performs the Gyutor Yak-Zang ceremony: a masked ritual dance with a torma offering, given as a year-ending thanksgiving to the Dharmapalas, with prayers for longevity, health, prosperity and peace in the world. The Abbot, the monastery staff and the entire Sangha take part.

The date is not incidental. Gutor means “the offering of the 29th”, and across the Tibetan world the closing days of the year are given over to clearing the negativity of the departing one. Days later, the new year begins.

Visitors are welcome. The dance runs for several hours, and the closing rites — including the hurling of the Gutor torma — follow it.