MyBhutan’s Luxury Tented Sangwa Camp Featured in TIME’s Annual List of the World’s Greatest Places. Read the article here or contact us to stay.
    back to Explorer

    Punakha Tsechu

    རི་བོ་ཇིཀྲུ་ཌེཀ
    iconfestival

    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. 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.

    Experience Location
    Loading....

    You May Also Like

    Thimphu Tsechu
    4.4
    Thimphuiconfestival
    National Day
    4.7
    Thimphuiconfestival

    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.

    Paro Tsechu
    4.1
    Paroiconfestival

    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.
    Druk Wangyal Festival
    4.3
    Dochulaiconfestival