Thimphu Tshechu

The festival

The Thimphu Tshechu, established in the 19th century, is Bhutan's largest festival: three days in the court of Tashichho Dzong, the seat of the government and the central monastic body, brings together tens of thousands of people, from the families of the capital to the villagers from all over the country, all dressed in traditional party clothes.

Prior to the Thimphu Drubchen ceremony a few days earlier, the festival honours Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) with the masked dances Ham, including the Dance of the Four Deeres and the Raksha Mangcham (judgment of the dead), interspersed with the faces of the atsaras, the sacred clowns. Attending the Tshechu is an act of devotion for the Bhutanese who accumulate the merits as much as the great social rendezvous of the year.