10 Things No One Tells You Before Attending a Tsechu Festival in Bhutan

You've read the brochure version. Colorful masks. Sacred dances. Monks in robes. Stunning dzongs. It is all that, and it's the 10% travel agencies display to you because it looks good in photos! The other 90% is what makes it one of the most disorientating, overwhelming, humbling, and genuinely unforgettable experiences you will have as a traveller as you attend a Tsechu.

This is not a list of items that you might encounter in a guidebook! No one tells you this until you get here, standing at 5 am in a busy courtyard, confused, cold, and all changed.

If you like to learn travel tips before going to any Tsechu Festival in Bhutan, please read this. If you want to know some of the things that you should know before attending the Tsechu Festival in Bhutan, read this. 

What Most Travelers Don’t Know Before Attending a Tsechu Festival in Bhutan?

One of the experiences that you would never forget after coming back from Bhutan is the Tsechu festival. The atmosphere is alive, not posed for tourists, as monks wander slowly in elaborate masks, families in their finest traditional clothes gather in their community, and the drums beat out in ancient dzongs.

Tsechu is a deeply personal and spiritual event for the people of Bhutan, rather than an event with colourful cultural activities for tourists. It has been a time of prayer, blessings, reunion, and remembrance passed on through the ages. 

The dances and ceremonies are overlaid with layers of faith, symbolism, and tradition, which are often missed if not understood within the culture and context from which they came. There are lots of little things about attending a Tsechu that you are rarely prepared for in a guidebook.

The Thongdrel Unfurls Before Sunrise — and You Will Probably Miss It If You're Not Warned 

The Thongdrel is the big sacred silk painting that is rolled out on the last morning of a big Tsechu, such as Paro or Thimphu. The Thongdrel is a large sacred silk painting which is rolled out on the last morning of a great Tsechu, like Paro or Thimphu. What they don't mention is the nightly time of 4:00 AM or 5:00 AM, before the sun rises above the walls of the dzong on the last morning.

The reason for the timing is theological, not logistical. Much larger appliqué thangka, usually of Guru Rinpoche or another Buddhist deity, is the Thongdrel (roughly, "liberation upon sight"). Some believe that its mere sight purges one of his sins for a lifetime. Due to this power, the monks do not want the sunlight to impinge on it for extended periods of time. It is unveiled at dawn, on display for a few precious hours, and then rolled up and stored away all year long.

Pilgrims come for days to be there. Bhutanese families wear their best silk Gho and Kira in the very cold pre-dawn. If you want to see it, you will have to get up really early in the morning. Set the alarm, have a warm beverage and get going.

The Clowns Are Not Just Clowns — They Are Sacred Teachers, and the Festival Would Collapse Without Them 

The Atsaras get to visitors' nerves when they first visit. They line up in colorful red masks with bulbous noses and beaming faces, as well as exaggerated wooden phalluses and take turns to make jokes, tap people on the head, imitate the monks and create a happy mess on the street.

Their tendency is to be written off as comic relief between the serious religious dances. However, one of the most spiritually charged beings in the whole festival is the Atsara.

Atsara is derived from the Sanskrit word Acharya, a holy teacher or spiritual guide. From a traditional Bhutanese Buddhist perspective, these figures manifest tantric masters who are able to attack the illusion and ego through humor, irreverence and absurdity. If an Atsara ridicules a monk or mimics a sacred dance, he isn't being rude; he is living a kind of koan, he's saying the same thing as the Buddha did: "Rely not on formality and status.

Apart from a spiritual role, the Atsaras are also the logistical support of the event. They describe to the audience what each of their masks signifies. They prevent people from coming too close to the performers. They control the energy of crowds that may sit for eight or 10 hours in that courtyard. Nothing else would be workable, and most would not process them.

Don't flinch if an Atsara taps you on the head with his wooden phallus. It is a blessing to ward off the negative forces and bring good fortune. This gesture is a popular choice among many Bhutanese families that want to conceive a child.

The Dances Can Last All Day — and That Is the Point 

For most travel content, a Tsechu is a show that you go to, see for an hour or two, and then eat lunch. The truth is that the Cham dances, which are the main attraction of the Tsechus, may last from early morning until late afternoon over several days.

The duration of each person's dance varies from 20 minutes to more than an hour. No intermission. There is no program booklet in English. The dances, left to their own devices, may seem repetitive, even if you aren't paying close attention to them: robed figures spinning, stomping, circling, pausing, spinning again.

This isn't a tourist show, though. For the Bhutanese pilgrims who traveled from across the country, it's a religious ritual. Each dance is a prayer. Earth Spirits are calmed by the Stag Dance (Shazam Cham). The Black Hat Dance is a dance to kill bad spirits with tantric power. The Dance of the Lords of the Cremation Grounds is an interaction between the living and the dead. Each movement, each costume, each color of the mask has a meaning that monks study for many years.

The best tips that will be useful: hire a local guide for the festival, instead of a general tour guide. If you are lucky, there will be a guide there who will say the words that translate the actions of the dances as they go along, and this will help convert what could be a visual blur into something that is truly moving.

You Will Be in the Minority — and That's Exactly What Makes it Real

During the largest Tsechus, tens of thousands of people will be at stake, particularly in the Tsechus of Thimphu. The Thimphu Tsechu is the only festival that draws crowds of the royal family, government officials, monks from dozens of monasteries, families from neighbouring districts and pilgrims who have walked for days.

Of all these people, tourists are just a small portion. It's not a tourism festival, it's a festival for us. It was happening well before Bhutan opened its doors and it will continue after. You're at another person's biggest annual religious and social gathering.

It is, at the same time, a humble and freeing thing. The Bhutanese are hospitable as well, and when an Atsara sings you out to tease you, locals will laugh with you, offer you food from their picnic baskets and make space for you to sit when you ask for it. You are not looking at Bhutan's eyes. You are inside it.

However, it also implies: don't dominate! Don't stand in front of a monk for the best shot. Don't push forward in the crowd. Avoid coming in with the expectation that things will go your way.

Festival Dates Change Every Year — and Most People Book Based on the Wrong Year's Dates 

The Bhutanese Tsechus are based on the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. This implies that the dates vary from one year to another, and sometimes even by a few weeks. The timing of the Paro Tsechu could be any time in late March, one year, and mid-April, the next. The period of the Thimphu Tsechu is usually at the end of September or the beginning of October, but sometimes earlier or later.

The first time, they tend to Google up the dates of Paro Tsechu and make arrangements where they saw the dates mentioned in an article for a prior year, failing to verify the date of the lunar conversion for the current year. This is a very common and truly heartbreaking error to make when Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee is a mere $100 USD per person per night.

Please check dates of festivals with your tour operator and with official Bhutan tourism resources, and confirm three to six months ahead of your travel date. Once the dates have been confirmed, they start to go around each year. Book accommodation right away, hotels near major dzongs fill months out, prices rise steeply closer to the dates.

The Food at the Festival Is Half the Experience — and Almost Nobody Mentions It 

The dances are discussed on each blog. None of them says that there are some of the most original Bhutanese cuisines to enjoy at the festival grounds at the periphery.

The national dish of fiery chilies and farm cheese, Ema Datshi, comes in pots that have been battered and tastes more like what you'd eat at home. The butter tea, known as Suja, is sold in thermoses and is the reason for the great love and hate reactions it elicits in foreign visitors. Fried buckwheat snacks, zow, roasted corn and local ara (rice wine) are equally presented from family bags and vendor stalls.

The festival is not just a religious celebration, it's also a social get-together. Extended families may avoid each other for the rest of the year, and come together on blankets, enjoying elaborate home-cooked meals and spending the day picnicking between prayers. Accept any food offered by a local family. One of the most sincere relationships you will form anywhere in Bhutan.

Smaller Tsechus Will Change You More Than the Famous Ones 

All travellers want to go to Paro or Thimphu. These are fantastic and worth going to. But the Tsechu that will actually bite you, that will be talked about for years, the one you won't want to miss is likely to be a smaller and lesser known one, such as Gangtey Tsechu in Phobjikha Valley, Trongsa Tsechu or the Wangdue Tsechu.

The people attending Gangtey Tsechu are not too numerous to be able to stand close to the performers at the 17th-century Gangtey Monastery on a hill, above the glacial Phobjikha Valley. The monks are familiar with the names of the villagers. In the autumn season, when the Black-necked Cranes return, the birds drift across the valley, and in return, the monks do a special Black-Necked Crane Dance. It is an inside symbol, and it is the symbol of this place, this community, this valley. It will not be found anywhere else in Bhutan.

There is also a special ritual called Nguedup Langwa, which, outside, visitors are not often aware they are witnessing; it is a special blessing unique to the people of Gangtey Valley. Inquire with your guide about it.

Not being able to experience the intimacy of a smaller-sized Tsechu is not something that can be matched by any big festival. You're not a spectator in a 200-person courtyard, not when it's a 20,000-person one. You are a player.

What You're Wearing Matters More Than You Think — and Not Just for Modesty 

The general travel advice is: dress modestly. Cover shoulders and knees. This is right, but not a full answer.

The Bhutanese people wear their top-dollar attire at a Tsechu. Every day on government officials and school children, the Gho and Kira, the national dress of men and women, respectively, turn into ceremonial statements in silk woven, intricately patterned tones at festival time. The colours, the weaves and the choice of accessories used on the day of the festival hold significance. It is not offensive to wear casual western tourist attire, but it is like coming to someone's wedding in hiking gear.

Nowadays, many people are renting or borrowing traditional Bhutanese attire to attend festivals. Many tour companies will be able to organize this. It will not only be a matter of respect, but also influence the way locals interact with you. smiles will be different. Your kira will be approved by elderly females, and they will let you know. Children will request to get pictures with you. You no longer observe from the sidelines, but for some visual reason, you are at the gathering.

The same goes for layering: it's not a bad idea to do so. In the springtime and the falltime, Dzong courtyards are cold in the morning, exposed and hot in midday and cold again in the late afternoon. Bring a scarf, sunscreen, water bottle and comfortable shoes you can stand in for hours on uneven stone.

Photography Is Allowed — But Your Camera Will Become a Wall Between You and the Experience 

There are no cameras forbidden at most Tsechus, and the pictures are quite remarkable: the painted masks, the spinning robes, the incense smoke against the stone walls, the old women praying with eyes closed. It's definitely in everyone's nature to try to record everything.

However, those who put their camera away and remember more are the ones that experienced travelers come back and tell you about!

The Cham dances have a sonic, visual and spatial effect on you. Music is a means of altering consciousness, of a direct experience of Buddhist cosmology through immersion in the senses. You're experiencing it as content, not living it, when you're looking through a viewfinder or framing a shot if you're shooting for Instagram.

Capture photos in the morning. Afterwards, place the camera in your bag for one full dance. Sit on top of the stones, let the sound permeate the courtyard, pay attention to the masks, do not look at the composition. That's the Tsechu in your memory.

Additional: Do not use a flash at any time during religious events. Don't go into the dance area to get a closer view. When close photographs of elderly monks or women are requested, do not do so unless you are told, not because it is forbidden, but because it is respectful.

Attending a Tsechu Is an Act of Receiving Blessings — Whether You Believe It or Not 

For the Bhutanese, there is no distinction between watching a Tsechu and taking part in a Tsechu. All of that is spiritually active for them; it's seeing the dances, seeing the Thongdrel, sitting in front of the sacred ritual's dancing; all of those things are spiritually active. The Tsechu is held so it can bless those present.

It is not required that you be a Buddhist. It doesn't need to alter your thinking. It will take a little adjusting as a traveller, though.

When we come to cultural things, most of us come as assessors; we evaluate, we compare, and we try to understand intellectually. A Tsechu doesn't do that sort of engagement. The dances cannot be comprehended from the outside. They are meant to be enjoyed from within. Even among the Bhutanese who come year after year, they are not learning anything new. They are there, in that place, with that community, under those sounds, because it is there that they are there, that they come.

So if you allow a bit of that in, you will be changed forever, and you will leave in a way you can't explain to anyone who didn't experience it with you.

To wrap up, the Tsechu has been happening since the 17th century. You will be one visitor among millions across history, and one of thousands in that courtyard on that day. But if you show up the way you would show up for something that matters early, humble, present, and patient, it will give you something you cannot find anywhere else in the world.

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