Paro Tshechu

What: Bhutan’s fes­ti­val of dance, the Paro Tshechu hon­ours the bud­dist and yogi Pad­ma Samb­hawa who intro­duced Bud­dhism to the Himalayas with a four day cel­e­bra­tion inside a local Dzong that starts with three days of sacred dances and rit­u­als per­formed by monks wear­ing elab­o­rate and colour­ful cos­tumes, singing, chant­i­ng, social­is­ing and the parad­ing and sell­ing of local arts and crafts.

But the real high­light of Paro Tshechu comes in the ear­ly hours of the last day, with the pre­sen­ta­tion of a  gigan­tic tra­di­tion­al Thang­ha, a huge cloth and sacred scroll con­tain­ing imagery of the bud­dah which accord­ing to leg­end has the abil­i­ty to cleanse a viewer’s sins and cor­rect their life path, with peo­ple queu­ing for hours to get a glimpse of the holy Thang­ha before it’s tak­en down before the sun ris­es.

When:  Paro tsechu takes place on the 10^th – 15^th day of the Bhutanese lunar cal­en­dar, which is usu­al­ly in the ear­ly parts of March or April – know that there are month­ly tsechu’s that take place all over Bhutan but for the best expe­ri­ence it’s rec­om­mend­ed to head to Paro.

Where: The Tsechu takes place in loca­tions all over Bhutan, but for the best expe­ri­ence head to the town of  Paro in Bhutan with the first day of the dances held inside the Paro Dzong and the fol­low­ing days dances held in the court­yard out­side, with the Thang­ha being unveiled in the ear­ly hours of the final day of the fes­ti­val inside the Dzong.

Dura­tion:  Paro Tsechu lasts for four days – with the first day see­ing cel­e­bra­tions, includ­ing masked dances, rit­u­als, social­is­ing, the dis­play­ing of crafts, begin­ning in the ear­ly morn­ing in the Dzong and last­ing for the next three days in the court­yard – with the pin­na­cle of the fes­ti­val tak­ing place at mid­night on the last day when the Thong­drel is unveiled in the Dzong, with crowds form­ing queues for hours to see it before it’s wrapped up and stored away ear­ly in the after­noon of the last day – before a final dance and par­ty brings the Tsechu to a close.

Tick­ets: Atten­dance to the fes­ti­val is free and par­tic­i­pa­tion and view­ing of the sacred thangkha is also free — although con­tri­bu­tions to the Dzong and pur­chas­ing of the crafts and gifts on offer from locals and the stalls dot­ting the cel­e­bra­tions are encour­aged.

Need to Know:  Wear bright colours to cel­e­brate the fes­ti­val and feel free to join in the cel­e­bra­tions– a num­ber of toru oper­a­tors com­bine view­ing of the Paro Tsechu