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    Druk Wangyal Festival

    རི་བོ་ཇིཀྲུ་ཌེཀ
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    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.

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