Bhutan Temple Festivals 06 Photos

Every high pass in Bhutan is sanctified with colorful Buddhist prayer flags.

The "tsechus" or temple festivals are not wholly serious afffairs. Jesters dressed in comical attire circulate through the crowd, often playing practical jokes and teasing each other.

The Dochu-la pass outside of Thimphu on the way to Trongsa is always worth an extended stop for both the view and the mosaiac maze of prayer flags.

Driving Bhutan's mountain roads often puts you above the cloud covered valley forests.

Monastery walls are completely painted with colorful images of saints, sages and warriors of tantric legends.

Many Bhutanese men enter the clergy and retreat to isolated monasteries. The annual festivals bring the monks together and into the public for large popular celebrations with chanting, drama and often, the annual display of huge thankas or religious murals as these monks are witnessing at Lhoda Karchung Monastery.

At the Tangbi Tsechu, a long line of musicians beat a chant rising to a crescendo as people gather from the surrounding villages.

The annual purification by fire and smoke at Tangi Tsechu, involves everyone running quickly through huge smoky bonfires. JOURNEYS groups are always welcome to join in the ceremony.

Bhutanese always dress in the national costume when in public, during business or celebrations. Here people are returning from the Thimphu Tsechu.

Dancers in the temple tsechus are monks. They practice for many years for their roles in the ritualized dances, performed while in a hypnotic state.