Bhutanese Tradition, Hospitality & Authenticity.

Tradition.

Bhutan firmly believes in promoting and protecting its unique traditions and culture. The country focuses so much in preserving its tradition in every small ways. In order to preserve and safeguard the country’s sovereignty, maintaining and not forgetting the core values involved in our old traditions is considered of utmost importance.

A Bhutanese ritual..

To discuss some of the traditions of Bhutan it is unique in its very own ways.

1. Eating habits

The traditional ways of eating is mostly by hands. Every one sits down on the floor and eats together. Bhutanese loves eating rice as their staple diet and their meal basically consists of cheese and chilies. It is usually the women who serve food to other members of the family. Food is mainly served to the head of the family. Before eating it is must to first offer a short prayer to the gods. Usually a small amount of rice is taken into the palm of your hand and then slowly by rubbing it is formed into a ball and kept aside, not to eat though. It is a technique used by Bhutanese to clean their hands.

Bhutanese way of life.

• National dress

There is separate attire for male and female. For men it is called a ‘gho’ which is knee length and tied with a belt on their waist. For women it is called a ‘kira’ a long ankle length cloth with a jacket like outer called ‘tego’ and inner layer called ‘wonju’.

 A white scarf is worn by men on their shoulder when visiting Dzongs and offices but the colour of the scarf varies from a person’s position or status. Bhutanese wear a ‘rachu’ usually woven out of raw silk with beautiful patterns on the left side of their shoulder.

Bhutanese national dress.

• Festival

Bhutan is rich in its cultural diversity and is shown in the rich festivals throughout the country. Most important is ‘Tshechu’ an annual festival performed inside the Dzong once a year. It is considered a very sacred festival which upon witnessing is believed to ward off ill luck and bring prosperity in the country. Various mask dances are showcased to the public which holds deep sacred meaning of life and death during the Tshechu.

Local festival.

• Funeral

Funeral traditions are performed elaborately to ensure the deceased to enter a good rebirth passage. After a person dies the 7^th, 14th, 21st and 49 days are considered very important and special rituals are performed and prayer flags are erected in the mountains for the deceased. On the death anniversaries butter lamps and prayer are offered in temples and rituals are performed.

After life.

• Marriage

Arranged marriage was prevalent in Bhutan in the olden days between the relatives. It was mainly done to keep the property within the families. Cross cousin marriage was also practiced in the eastern parts of the country. But with more people becoming literate the practice is slowly diminishing. In the current scenario most of the Bhutanese prefer to marry their choice of partner.

Marriage.

Marriage ceremonies are performed in Bhutan with exchanging of scarves between the bride and the groom along with their relatives and friends blessing them. After the marriage the couple can choose to live with their parents or live on their own.

• Birth

Like any parts of the world a birth of a child in a family is considered a happy and blessed moment in Bhutan. For the first three days after the birth of a child no visitors are allowed as it is considered impure. After a small purification ceremony all the relatives and friends can come and bless the child with gifts.

Birth.

Name of a child is not given right away; naming the baby is usually entrusted to a lama.

Hospitality.

Hospitality plays a pivotal role in the Bhutanese community since the olden days until now and holds deep meaning. Genorisity, kindness, humbleness, all contributes in providing hospitality to the guest. Bhutanese makes sure to maintain a cordial relation to the guest as a family member.

Traditional ways of hospitality are still practiced widely in Bhutan. It is called ‘Nyepo’ system where it emphasizes on exchange of gratitude in between the host and the guest.

A Bhutanese home.

Guest are often welcomed with a cup of warm tea consisting of milk or butter tea along with snacks which are locally made namely ‘Zaw’ and ‘Sip’ puffed rice and beaten corn.

A local rice wine is served often to guest known as ‘ara’ and after that guest are served with lunch or dinner.

The guest often brings some gifts for the host to show their gratitude and the host offers a farewell gift known as ‘Lamju’ to the guest. The host makes sure to bid farewell by waving scarves along their way.

Authenticity.

What sets Bhutan apart from the rest of the world is because of its unique identity which is beyond comparable. The way the country maintains its realness despite the influence of modernization. What makes Bhutan unique and authentic is how authenticity is maintained in various aspects such as in the designs of the traditional building merged along with modern designs. Bhutan is the only country in the world with no traffic signal lights and the traffic is controlled by policemen. It is also recognized as the only carbon negative country in the world. The country has also been strongly following one of the core values of the GNH philosophy of maintaing 60% forest coverage at all costs, which falls under the preservation of nature.

Authentic Bhutan.

In this fast changing world all the traditions and authencity of a country cannot be maintained all times. It can prove as a challenge at times to a country as influence of modernization takes over. For example social media has great influence especially on the youths. They are easily influenced by the western style of music and clothing. So, they try to copy everything that is shown in the media.

 We must all remember that what makes our identity is to go in with moderation with the outside influence but, at the same time we must all remember where are roots are. Our cultures and traditions must be preserved at all times and by doing so it will definitely go a long way in sustaining and preserving our unique national identity for generations to come.

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