Thimphu Tsechu

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 ...