Festivals or tsechus are the important occasion celebrated at various times of the year in different places in Bhutan. The Tsechus are normally between three and five days, with both monks and laymen taking part in the dances, which tend to be performed in a similar programme at each of the Tsechus.

Festivals are one of the highlights of the tour in Bhutan. During the festivals, the dzongs (fortresses) come to life with color, music, and dancing as valley dwelling farmers and townsfolk, dressed in their finest attire join together to exorcise evil spirits and rejoice in the arrival of spring or the new harvest. Stairways, courtyards and balconies are packed with monks, locals and the few fortunate visitors for each performance. Visitors are allowed into the dzongs to watch the festivals, but are not allowed into the inner sanctuaries.

The Bhutanese people attach great importance to festivals, as it has religious as well as social significance. Religious because they get the blessings and allow themselves to become immersed in their religion and to gain merit, and these events are also a time for the Bhutanese to socialise, to laugh and joke with their neighbours and acquaintances, to dress in their finest clothes and jewellery, to eat well and generally to have a good time. It is because of these importances that the festivals are so well preserved.

Amongst the dancers at all festivals there are so called atsaras, or clowns, whose expressive masks and postures provide a welcome counterpoint to the formalized religious dances. The atsaras confront the monks and, within prescribed limits, make fun of the whole affair. In a country where sacred matters are treated with the highest respect, only the atsaras are permitted to mock religion. But the atsaras in real term are the professional monk who had mastered the religious texts, dances and other religious matters.

The climax of several of the Tsechus is the brief unfurling of a huge appliqué thangka, representing Guru Rinpoche and his eight manifestations at the end of the festival. Known as a thongdroel, the festival-goers believe that simply by viewing this thangka they gain merits and also purify their sins for the year. With all the colors of the costumes and masks, the pageantry and the brightly dressed crowds and the spell-bound faces of young children and monks, Bhutan’s festivals rank as one of Asia’s greatest travel experiences. No less an authority than National Geographic Magazine has named Bhutan one of the top 25 destinations in the world today.

Three of the most popular festivals in Bhutan are held at Paro in the spring, and Thimphu and Bumthang in the autumn, but there are many others at temples, dzongs and monasteries throughout Bhutan. Dancers in brilliant silk costumes re-enact legendary events, accompanied by blaring horns, booming drums, and clashing cymbals as they whirl and leap against a background of sky and mountains. Certain dances require the participants to wear heavy masks, representing human forms, manifestations of Guru Rinpoche, animals, skulls or fearsome deities. There are three types of religious dance: instructive dances which tell a moral tale, dances intended to purify a place and to protect it from evil spirits, and dances that proclaim the victory of Buddhism and the glory of Guru Rinpoche.

In areas outside Thimphu and Paro, festival dates can change without notice. Therefore it is advisable to confirm dates for local festivals with the authorities concerned at the Dzongkhags (District Dzong). The festivals listed below are considered the larger and more well known. Small villages throughout Bhutan also have their own local festivals that are too numerous to list here. All festival dates are based on the Lunar Calendar and so will vary from year to year.