Bhutan village festival

Bhutan Festivals are unique and a great time for tourists and the locals alike. Its a time when the villagers leave behind their back breaking work and gather to have fun and cleanse their sins.

Festivals in Bhutan are characterized by color, gaiety, enthusiasm, prayers and rituals. Foreign travelers are struck by the scale and multiplicity of Bhutanese festivals that have evolved in the society. Fairs and festivals are moments of remembrance and commemoration of the birthdays and great deeds of gods, goddesses, hero, heroines and saints.

Hongtsho, is a small hamlet about 20 km away from Thimphu (capital city). Apples and potatoes are the major cash crop here. This hamlet has a population of about 500 hundred people. They have a small community school, an out reach clinic and few shops.

Every year on the 15th day of the seventh month on the Bhutanese calender a small festival is celebrated here to please the protecting deity of the hamlet. People make offerings in the temple and receive blessings. Mask dances and folk dances are performed by the villagers.

Below are some pictures from the festival



Enjoying their lunch


Young monks witnessing the festival


remembering their yester-years


mask dances


A dilapidated house, people still live in it.


mask dance


festival clown entertaining the crowd


The festival ground.