I have seen Tibetans offer the first portion of the food they are offering with Food Offering Prayer, they pinch a little bit of it and shoot it upwards with a flick of their fingers.
I didn’t understand exactly what was it but now it makes sense, after chatting with my Tibetan teacher about the preparations of ལོ་སར།, the Tibetan New Year. Some white pots arrived in the Tibet House and I wondered what were they for. They are actually to plant wheat (or barley) seeds during Losar: They offer the first harvest of the year. He told me ལོ་ཕུད། is the name for this offering, among others, (ལོ། = year, ཕུད། = first portion).
This ཕུད། is related to the aforementioned act of cutting a piece of food before the མཆོད་པ། and flicking it. It’s not a piece, it’s the best part of it.
During the morning of Losar, the first serving of the breakfast is offered:
- ཆང་བསྐོལ། porridge made from fermented rice
- འབྲས་སིལ། rice with raisins, sugar
- གྲོ་མ། sweet potatoes
- བོད་ཇ། butter tea