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Bhutan's Tshechu: Festivals in the Land of the Thunder Dragon |
| Section: CULTURE / PEOPLES |
| Author: Barbara Bussell |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/1993 |
| Size: 953 Words, 5,988 Characters |
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Once a year, before dawn, as they have done for centuries, Bhutanese monks prepare to unveil the Thongdrol tanka, a holy painting that is mounted on fabric and kept at the Wangdiphodrang monastery. By the hundreds, members of nearby communities climb the timeworn steps, pass through enormous, hand-hewn wooden doors, and enter the ancient monastery, known as a dzong. Darkness wanes on this crisp September morning as devout Buddhists gather in the central courtyard.
Open to the sky and defined by lofty, tapered walls, the spacious courtyard becomes the stage for ensuing festival events. Massive fortress monasteries like this one have served as religious and administrative centers in each district of Bhutan since the early seventeenth c...
. . .
...inner, portrayed as a frightened figure dressed in black, appears and tries in vain to escape, only to be apprehended by the raksas. As the judgment begins, the White God sings his merits and the Black Demon expounds on his sins.
Eventually, god triumphs over evil as the third day of the tshechu ends. The exuberant crowd gradually disperses, and the magnificent dzong is left in silence.
(754 of 5,988 characters)
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