Unveil the Wonders of Bhutan

Every year on November 11, the Black Necked Crane Festival launches into a whirlwind of celebration. In the courtyard of Gangtey Goempa, on a ridge in the middle of Phobjikha Valley, the festival celebrates the arrival of the black necked cranes.

The Brokpa yak dance is traditionally performed in the summer months. Two men cozy up inside a bisected wooly yak costume and respectively animate its front and back limbs. Several other men don colorful face masks that conceal their identity but seemingly offer a glimpse of their internal personalities.

Early every spring, between the 8th and 10th days of the second lunar month, well-dressed crowds from across eastern Bhutan and as far afield as Tawang in India descend on Gom Kora (also known as Gomphu Kora) for the ancient temple's annual tsechu. During the festival, a ceaseless stream of worshippers walk kora (ritual clockwise circuits) around Gom Kora lhakhang and the black boulder behind it in a vigil lasting into the night. Locals believe this to be an optimal time for meeting future life partners; many young people circumambulate the monastery late at night, singing prayers and looking for potential wives or husbands.

Come summer, when rare white poppies bloom in the hills of western Bhutan, the sleepy town of Haa awakens for the Haa Summer Festival (also called the Alpine Summer Festival). Held on the first or second weekend in July, the festival is a recent addition to Bhutan's busy calendar of regional festivals. Attractions include traditional sports competitions, from khuru (darts) to wrestling, masked chham dances, and displays of wildflowers.

History and legend mix freely throughout Bhutanese history - nowhere more so than in the stories that swirl around Bumthang's Kurjey Lhakhang and Kurjey's annual tsechu.

Said to have originated in the early 1700s the Lhamoi Drupchen or the Lhamoi Dromchen is a festival conducted in several districts in Bhutan. It is a festival dedicated to the dominant female protective deity of Bhutan, Pelden Lhamo (Maha Kali). Thousands of people gather at the respective fortresses in their best colorful attire to get blessed by the mask and folk dances performed during the festival.

Almost every village in Lhuentse hosts festivals that are unique and distinct from those in other communities in Bhutan. This can be attributed to the authenticity that remains preserved due to its remoteness. Visited by very few tourists, if any at all, these festivals in the land of the ancestral home of our Kings attract large number of locals from near and far.

From the highway turnoff halfway between Paro and Thimphu, it's a long drive uphill on pitted dirt roads to reach the mushroom picking camp that hosts a 2-day Masutake Mushroom Festival every year in the middle of August. A homey and small-scale affair, the festival offers a chance for nearby Genyekha villagers to promote this fungus so prized for its distinctive aroma and succulent flavor.

On 17 December 1907, religious and secular leaders from across Bhutan gathered in Punakha to unanimously elect Ugyen Wangchuck as the First Druk Gyalpo, or "Precious Ruler of the Dragon People" - Bhutan's first king. The date of his coronation has been celebrated ever since as Bhutan's National Day. Each year, His Majesty appears for an inspiring speech to the nation. The location for this address varies annually, and the place does not become known until mere days beforehand.

Padseling Kuchoed is an annual event held in Padseling Goenpa in Bumthang; a district many consider to be the most blessed and the heartland of Bhutanese culture and tradition. The Padseling Goenpa, built in 1769 AD, is surrounded by significant holy sites (impressions of a white snake and a conch on the rocks to the east, a holy waterhole to the south and stacks of rock resembling holy scriptures to the north) making it a very special pilgrimage site that adds more spiritual significance to this spectacular festival.

The unique Panbang Tsechu is an annual three-day festival held every October. Along with the blessings from the unfurling of a large Guru Rinpoche Thongdrol (large scroll painting), sacred mask dances and cultural items are exhibited for the naturally happy crowd from nearby communities. An opportunity for social bonding and celebration in its purest form, as pure as the venue itself. Having opened its doors to tourism only in 2011, the remote community of Panbang, Zhemgang District, is still considered one of the least visited places in Bhutan.