FOOD IN NEWAR CULTURE:

Food is also closely connected to the ritual and religious life of the Newars. Every Newari festival of importance begins with a day which is referred to aschoyala bhu (lit., roast meat plate). At the choyala bhu one abstains from the boiled rice in the evening. Instead one enjoys roasted meat and flattened rice and drinks beer and spirits. Thus, the choyala bhu is related to sacred events, as it initiates important ritual periods when the Gods on which domestic and communal prosperity and health are thought to depend are propitiated. Choyala bhu is also observed at some life cycle rites. The choyala bhu is generally accompanied by other ritual acts which also mark the transition from daily life to a period of worship and festivities: one has a purifying bath, cleans all household utensils, and purifies the floors by besmearing them with a solution of cow dung and red clay. The entire net-work of social relations in the Newar community is kept strong through the feasts and festivals under the auspices of the various guthis. These feasts and festivals are numerous. They are not so much religious as are [sic] social. It is through the participation in these feasts that a Newar individual enjoys the protection of the society. Solidarity is sought to be maintained through the feasts and festivals on four different levels — family, patrilineal grouping, caste and community. On the other hand, the feasts and festivals not only effect the integration of the different living individuals but also act as a bridge between the living and the dead. In the Newar social organisation, the living and the dead both go to make the social group.