 Festivals of Bhutan
Religious festivals are celebrated throughout the country, they occur in
a host of differing forms, depending upon the scale, the nature of the
ceremonies performed or the particular deity being revered. The
Tshechus, festivals which honor Guru Rinpoche and celebrate one of his
remarkable actions, and the most popular of these take place annually in
or around the great dzongs, attracting both tourists and large numbers
from the surrounding districts.
Lasting several days, the central
focuses are the series of prayers and religion inspired dances. These
dances, made especially striking by the spectacular costumes of the mask
dancers - bright silks and rich brocade, ornate hats or extraordinary
masks - may either depict morality tales, invoke protection from demonic
spirits or proclaim Buddhist victories and the glory of remarkable
saints. Add to more comic there are the atsaras - clowns with weird
masks, making jokes and laughter - who mingle with the audience and
also the performers, are entitled to mock both spiritual and temporal
subjects, and through their distractions infuse a lighter side to
otherwise serious matters. Tshechus may end with the bestowing of
powerful blessings, delivered orally by a high lama or visually with the
unfurling of a huge appliqué thangka representing Guru Rinpoche and his
Eight Manifestations. By example, a few popular series of dances
inspired by religious themes of the Paro Tsechu are listed below.
Dance of the Lord of Death and his Consort (Shinje Yabyum)
Costume: Brocade
long dress, buffalo mask.
 Dance of the Black Hats (Shana) Costume: Large
black hat, felt boots, colorful brocade long dress, no mask. The black
hat dancers assume the appearance of yogis who have the power to destroy
and create life. They protect the good and destroy the evil. Dance of the
Black Hats with Drums (Shana Ngacham) When the black hats dancers have
destroyed the malevolent enemies of the Doctrine, they beat the great
drums of Buddhism. The sound of the drums represents the religion, which
cannot be represented in any other way because it has no visible form.
Dance of the Four Stags (Shacham) Costume: Knee length skirts, deer
masks.
 Accompaniment Dance (Kyecham) Costume: Knee length yellow skirt, bare
feet, animal mask with sword in the right hand.
Dance of the Lords of
the Cremation Grounds (Durdag) Costume: White short skirt, White Boots,
White Skull Masks.
Dance of the Terrifying Deities (Tungam) Costume: Beautiful brocade
dresses, boots and terrifying masks.
Dance of the Judgment of Dead (Raksha Marchm) Costume: The Raksha has a
black mask and a yellow skirt
Dance of the Drum Beaters (Dramitse
Ngacham) Costume: Knee length yellow skirts, animal masks, big drums and
drumsticks.
Dance of the Heroes (Pacham) Costume: Knee length yellow
skirts and golden crowns (rina), no mask.
Dance of the Tsholing and the
Ging (Ging Tsholing) Costume: The Tsoling have long colorful dresses and
wear terrifying masks. The Ging wear orange skirts, terrifying black
masks with a flag on top and hold a big drumstick.
Dance of the Eight
Manifestations of Guru Rimpoche (Guru Tshen Gye) Ugyen Rimpoche is the
second Buddha and the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara (Thuje Chenpo),
Lord of Compassion. When Buddha was about to Enter Nirvana he told his
disciples, "Do not be sad, I will come again from the West". Thus he
reappeared as Ugyen Rimpoche, "Master of the Great Teaching Without Any
Attachment". All the virtues of Buddha's body speech and mind were
summed up in Ugyen Rimpoche, who vowed to guide the beings of this world
through his eight manifestations.
Festival dates 2008
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