Unveil the Wonders of Bhutan

The ritual dances of the three-day Thimphu Tsechu, one of Bhutan's biggest festivals, are always feasts for the eyes. In one, three monks gather in the center of the sunlit square, dressed in huge silk robes, decked with sashes and scarves and crowned with crests of jewel-like peacock feathers fluttering from their distinctive hats. Slowly, mesmerizingly, each begins to whirl, their robes filling with air like brocade parachutes. Every year on the 10th day of the 8th lunar month, richly dressed crowds descend on Tashichho Dzong in northern Thimphu for the festival. In preparation for their ritual dances, Thimphu's monks will have spent whole days and nights locked in prayer, invoking a colorful pantheon of deities to lend their spiritual power to the chham. As the expectant crowds gather, they are entertained by atsaras, or jesters, whose antics entrance any evil spirits lurking nearby, preventing them from causing harm during the tsechu. Each of the three days brings a different selection of age-old chham — you might see the Dance of the Black Hats or the Dance of the Lords of the Cremation Ground or the dramatic Dance of the Stags, where lay monks don fearsome wooden masks and dance barefoot with wild energy. During the festival days, the main street of Norzim Lam becomes packed with vendors and game stalls (archery, kuru, etc). Melodious music can be heard all day from concerts at the Clock Tower, and the entire downtown area fills with enthusiastically celebrating locals.

On 17 December 1907, religious and secular leaders from across Bhutan gathered in Punakha to unanimously elect Ugyen Wangchuck as the First Druk Gyalpo, or "Precious Ruler of the Dragon People" - Bhutan's first king. The date of his coronation has been celebrated ever since as Bhutan's National Day. Each year, His Majesty appears for an inspiring speech to the nation. The location for this address varies annually, and the place does not become known until mere days beforehand.

By the time the Paro Tsechu starts on the 10th day of the second lunar month, the monks have spent sixty days in prayer and practice. Sleeping only a few hours each night during this time, they meticulously run through dance steps handed down by saints, designed to invoke deities. The first day's masked nang-chham are held in the courtyard inside Rinpung Dzong, but the subsequent days' festivities are now held in an open space outside the dzong, to better accommodate the numbers that wish to attend.

A dancer dressed as Milarepa leaps high above the mound at the center of the festival ground. Topless in the December chill, he flings out dreadlocks from behind his wooden mask as he crosses his legs in midair. Snowcapped mountains behind him form a panoramic backdrop to the annual Druk Wangyal Tsechu held atop the Dochula Pass every December 13. The tsechu's folk and mask dances are performed in honor of His Majesty the Fourth King and the Royal Bhutan Army's 2003 conflict with Assamese insurgents in southern Bhutan. Along with religious dances dedicated to the epic Himalayan poet and Buddhist adept, Milarepa, the festival's highlight is the three-part Dance of the Heroes, where a troop of dancers reenact the soldiers' farewell, combat, and eventual homecoming before crowds of richly dressed onlookers.

Every year on November 11, the Black Necked Crane Festival launches into a whirlwind of celebration. In the courtyard of Gangtey Goempa, on a ridge in the middle of Phobjikha Valley, the festival celebrates the arrival of the black necked cranes.

Come summer, when rare white poppies bloom in the hills of western Bhutan, the sleepy town of Haa awakens for the Haa Summer Festival (also called the Alpine Summer Festival). Held on the first or second weekend in July, the festival is a recent addition to Bhutan's busy calendar of regional festivals. Attractions include traditional sports competitions, from khuru (darts) to wrestling, masked chham dances, and displays of wildflowers.

Early each spring, when the winter snows still cover peaks elsewhere in Bhutan, the subtropical Punakha Valley basks in its customary warmth. With six straight days of festivities falling in the second lunar month, the intensity of the Punakha Drupchen gives way immediately to the more celebratory three-day Punakha Tsechu. Punakha Tsechu was established in 2005 to help preserve Buddhist teachings and to celebrate the deeds of Bhutan's great unifier and leader, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

Early every spring, between the 8th and 10th days of the second lunar month, well-dressed crowds from across eastern Bhutan and as far afield as Tawang in India descend on Gom Kora (also known as Gomphu Kora) for the ancient temple's annual tsechu. During the festival, a ceaseless stream of worshippers walk kora (ritual clockwise circuits) around Gom Kora lhakhang and the black boulder behind it in a vigil lasting into the night. Locals believe this to be an optimal time for meeting future life partners; many young people circumambulate the monastery late at night, singing prayers and looking for potential wives or husbands.

Every year just before the Thimphu Tsechu, the courtyard of Thimphu's Tashichho Dzong comes alive for a day of sacred dances honoring Bhutan's fierce protector deity, Palden Lhamo. The dances performed by masked monks reenact a vision that appeared to Kuenga Gyeltshen, the reincarnation of Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyel's son, of the deity dancing in front of him while he was deep in meditation. Kuenga Gyeltshen established the Thimphu Drupchen (also known as the Thimphu Dromchoe) in 1710, and the whirling dances have been performed on the seventh day of the eighth month of the Bhutanese calendar in an unbroken line ever since.

If you are planning a trip to Bhutan in early May and can stay in Thimphu for a night or two, treat yourself by heading to the Tarayana Fair. It's the annual fundraiser for Tarayana Foundation (MyBhutan's nonprofit partner) that started in 2003 as a chance for the handicraft artisans that Tarayana sponsors to display their creations. It's grown into a three-day-long party with the feel of a small county fair that for many foreigners will have an air of innocence from days past. The fairgrounds, open all year long, are down by the banks of the Wang Chhu next to the foundation's headquarters. The fair has bunches of activities for kids, handicrafts shopping and a jumble sale for adults, games, a mini archery field for trying the national sport, a demonstration area showcasing Tarayana projects, pop tunes playing over loudspeakers, and lots of food — cheese and beef momos, of course, but also roasted barley flour, puffed raw zaw, and dried cottage cheese (datsi kam). It's a chance to see a wider cross-section of Bhutanese in one place than you are likely to encounter anywhere else. The fair has family-friendly fun at its most charming. Kids in pint-sized kiras and ghos sit patiently to get their faces painted as parents look on (girls go for intricate floral patterns, boys for superhero eyes and black and white skulls). A line of blue tarpaulin tents offers charmingly simple games of skill for 40 Ngultrum (USD 0.60) a pop, the game names handwritten on paper signs taped over the entrances. Kids, teenagers, and adults try taking down a pyramid of metal cups with a tennis ball in Hit the Cans, or placing small plastic rings over glass bottle tops in Fish the Bottle. Prizes? Hello Kitty mini-purses, Barbie dolls, and geometry sets. Pony rides are especially popular. A printed paper sign nailed to a tree inside the fair asks, “Wanna be a cowboy or a cowgirl? Come ride our horses!” and the line to ride them is long. Kids step up a little wooden stairway to land in red wool saddles for 5 coupons, or just USD 1. Adults can buy authentic handicrafts at reasonable prices from the creators themselves, who will happily tell you in Dzongkha how they are made. Handicrafts are still the heart of the fair, the artisan tents located near the north entrance where cars with the red plates indicating ministers and royalty are parked. There are new jandom containers for holding a favorite tipple called ara (rice wine), wood carvers from Mongar in east Bhutan displaying exquisitely crafted sets of the four protector animals known as “tag seng chung druk” (tiger, snow lion, garuda, dragon), woven bamboo baskets for serving cooked rice, toy stuffed animals crafted from yak and sheep hair, raw silk scarves dyed with rhododendron. After the fair, any unsold handicrafts fatten the inventory of Tarayana Rural Crafts, their retail store on Norzin Lam in Thimphu. It's all to raise awareness for Tarayana Foundation, which endeavors to help villagers in some of the most remote areas of the kingdom to help themselves. The fair commences with an inauguration by Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, founder of the foundation, to an audience which typically includes His Royal Highness Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, Her Royal Highness Ashi Sonam Dechen Wangchuck, and the Prime Minister of Bhutan. In 2016’s fair, Her Majesty Queen Mother concluded the opening speech by stating, “Tarayana Foundation believes in maximizing happiness and harmony in all Bhutanese people!”

The three-day Ura Yakchoe is one of Bumthang's most colorful festivals. Officially scheduled to start on the 12th day of the third lunar month — which usually falls in May — in practice, the festival date is only set a few weeks in advance. Be prepared for last minute adjustments when planning to visit this tsechu!

Punakha Tsechu was established in 2005 to help preserve Buddhist teachings and to celebrate the deeds of Bhutan's great unifier and leader, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The tsechu features masked chham dances and folk dances. Visitors trek down from the highlands to Punakha from as far away as Gasa and Laya to join the tsechu, which for many is the main highlight of a long, cold winter.