Festivals

The largest and most colourful festivals (tsechus) take place at Bhutan's dzongs and monasteries once a year, in honour of Guru Rinpoche. They normally take place in spring and autumn. Tsechus consist of up to five days of spectacular pageantry, masked dances and religious allegorical plays that have remained unchanged for centuries. As well as being a vital living festival and an important medium of Buddhist teaching, tsechus are huge social gatherings. The Bhutanese revel and rejoice together, dressed in their finest clothes and jewellery, in an infectiously convivial atmosphere where humour and devotion go hand in hand. For visitors, the tsechu provides an ideal opportunity to appreciate the essence of the Bhutanese character. If you can't take a good photograph here, you should hock your camera. Pack as much film as you think you will need and then double it.