Join the Bhutanese as they celebrate the Pema Gatshel Tsechu

If you’re at the Pema Gatshel Dzongkhag in Eastern Bhutan on the 5th and 6th of November this year, you will see the entire community dressed in their finest clothing rejoicing and enjoying themselves with their friends and family. Celebrated annually over 2-3 days and since the construction of the dzong in the early 1980’s,  the Pema Gatshel Tsechu is a social gathering where people from all walks of life get together to celebrate and contemplate religion. People often travel great distances to be a part of the tsehchu. Monks or laymen perform mask dances; the dancers are adorned in colourful clothes and dance to the rhythm or music of cymbals and drums. Many folk dances and other entertainment are also a part of the festival.

The masked dances or cham are believed to bestow blessings upon spectators and teaches them the ways of Buddhist dharma. It is said that the spectators are protected from misfortune and these dances exorcise evil influences. Simply attending this festival, which is also a religious ceremony is said to gain you merit. Tshechus literally means 10th day of the month, in the Bhutanese calendar, which is considered auspicious. The day is dedicated to the great Buddhist Guru, Padmasambhava. Festivals known as Tshechus are celebrated in every Dzongkhang (province) in the country. As per oral tradition and certain beliefs, the same animals as in the mask worn by the masked dancers during the tshechus will greet us during the time of our death. The animals, they say, will be gigantic and ferocious in order to scare us, so if we watch these festivals while we are alive, we get acquainted and familiar with the animals. Thus if and when they appear before us, we will be less frightened and our soul will gain peace.