Festival sideshows

Christmas, the most commercial religious holiday of all is approaching. One might think that the materialistic, carnevalistic celebration of religious holidays would not have reached Bhutan yet – wrong.

The two tsechus, religious festivals I have testified in Thimphu, the capital and in Bumthang, Central Bhutan have had a vast selection of attractions outside the official programme of sacred dances (cham): gambling, drinking, dancing girls...you know, the usual things you would associate with a Buddhist festival! 

 
But first: what is a tsechu? Bhutanese tsechus are important social and religious gatherings which last 2-5 days and take place in the courtyards of dzongs (administrative and religious centres of the district) or lhakhangs (temples or monasteries). 

The main programme consists of sacred dances which have different significances, commemorating the events in the life of Guru Padmasambhava who brought Buddhism to Bhutan in the 8th century and is revered here as the Second Buddha. The oldest dances date from the 15th century and are performed by both monks and villagers. Attending a festival is believed to bring merit and blessings.

Although the official dance programme is nice to watch, the sideshows of festivals – some intended, some not – were even more interesting to follow.

Jokers
Clowns or jokers (atsaraa) are actually a part of the official festival programme. Their main tasks are to to pester people, make indecent jokes and hit people on their heads with large wooden penises. At the Thimphu tsechu, they also took babies from their parents to be blessed by lamas. 



Fashion
Particularly the Thimphu tsechu was one big fashion show where everyone dressed up in their best kiras and ghos, adorned with jewellery. I could have sat for hours just to watch all the different dresses, men's knee-length socks with different patterns and adorable children in their tiny costumes. In Thimphu, young people were posing for mobile photos together – presumably posted directly onto Facebook.



Fun for kids
Watching the sacred dances can get boring for small kids (and also for adults after some time). Luckily, at the Bumthang festival there was a giant market area just outside the temple, where you could get everything from toy guns to cotton candy. This meant that kids spent most of their time running around the temple area, chasing each other with water pistols. 

 

Gambling
The Jambay Lhakhang festival in Bumthang featured a hugely popular activity: gambling. Roulette, Bhutanese darts (khuru), game called ”lucky seven”, archery, bingo...you name it! I won 200 ngultrums (2,5 euros) in a simple game of roulette.

Dancing girls
Drayang (see BBS article) is an entertainment centre – basically a bar with a stage where girls (and sometimes boys) dance and/or sing for money for mostly male-dominated audience. It sounds a bit dubious, but performers always wear a full national costume, and anything else than dancing or singing will only happen outside the establishment. The drayang at the Bumthang festival was one of the most popular spots for an evening drink.


Drinking
Finally, the favourite activity of many Bhutanese: drinking alcohol. In Thimphu, there was no alcohol at least visibly involved in the festival activities, but Bumthang market area featured it prominently - perhaps because much of the Bumthang's Jambay Lhakhang festival actually happened during the night (such as the famous ”naked men dance”, tercham). According to my hosts, not only spectators, but also many of the festival dancers encouraged themselves with a few drinks. After all, it is not an easy task to go dancing naked (although faces covered in a mummy-like white cloth) in front of a large crowd, when it is almost freezing outside and your friends and families are watching...
 

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