Paro Dumchoe

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.

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.

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.

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.