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    Thimphu Drupchen

    རི་བོ་ཇིཀྲུ་ཌེཀ
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    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.

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