Jambay Lhakhang Drup
Festival

The Rituals That Make This Festival Unique

The Mewang — The Fire Blessing Ceremony

As darkness falls on the final night of the Jambay Lhakhang Drup, the festival moves out of the temple courtyard and into an adjacent agricultural field for the Mewang — the fire blessing ceremony. A gate-like structure built from dried grasses and leaves is set ablaze as monks begin conducting the Gegtrey purification ritual, which is believed to cleanse the ground and the gathered spectators of accumulated misdeeds. One by one, participants run beneath the burning gate, embers falling around them, in an act of purification that is believed to clear all obstacles from their path. The blessing is especially sought by women hoping to conceive: the Mewang is understood to confer fertility, and couples travel great distances to participate.

According to the festival’s religious custodians, the Mewang also encompasses the Jyensig and Torjab rituals, performed alongside it to ensure peace and harmony for the country as a whole. The spectacle of the burning gate, the crowd of running figures, and the chanting of monks in the firelit darkness is one of the most visually and emotionally charged scenes of any festival in Bhutan.

The Tercham — The Sacred Naked Dance at Midnight

The Tercham is one of the most singular ritual performances in the Himalayan world. Performed at or just before midnight, it involves approximately sixteen men who emerge into the temple courtyard with their faces wrapped in white cloth and masks, but otherwise completely naked, and dance to the rhythm of traditional drums and cymbals.

The dance’s origins trace back to the treasure discoverer Terton Dorji Lingpa, who introduced it on the prophecy of Guru Rinpoche. The story behind it comes from Nabji Korphu in Trongsa, where demons were repeatedly destroying a monastery under construction by tearing it down each night. Terton Dorji Lingpa introduced the Tercham to distract and captivate the demons — so absorbed were they by the spectacle that the monastery was finally completed and consecrated. The dance was brought to Jambay Lhakhang by Terton Dorji Lingpa himself.

The Tercham is also understood to carry blessings of fertility and to ward off evil spirits from the surrounding community. Photography and video recording of the dance are strictly prohibited without exception — this is one of the few events in Bhutan’s festival calendar where cameras must be put away entirely. The prohibition is part of what preserves the ritual’s sacred atmosphere.

The Cham Dances — A Repertoire Shaped by Pema Lingpa

Many of the Cham dances performed at the Jambay Lhakhang Drup are attributed to Terton Pema Lingpa, the great 15th-century treasure discoverer who was born in Bumthang and whose spiritual legacy permeates every valley in the region. Pema Lingpa is one of the five great tertöns (treasure discoverers) of Bhutan and is considered an emanation of Guru Rinpoche. The dances he composed for Bumthang’s festivals carry a distinct character — more narrative, more theatrical, and in some ways more joyful than those of the western festivals.

Dances performed across the four days include the Shana Cham (Dance of the Black Hats), the Raksha Mangcham (Dance of the Judgement of the Dead), the Dance of the Four Garudas, the drum dance, and the Dola Pangtoy Shazam — a clown dance that provokes laughter and belongs to the same tradition as the Atsaras of other festivals. A procession of monks, devotees, and dancers opens the festival each year, moving in ceremony from the temple to begin the proceedings.

Jambay Lhakhang — One of Bhutan’s Oldest Temples

The temple that hosts this festival is itself an extraordinary place. Jambay Lhakhang sits on a low plateau beside the Bumthang Chhu river in the Choekhor Valley of Bumthang, surrounded by farmland and ringed by mountains. It is a one-storey complex of whitewashed walls and golden roofs, modest in scale but immense in historical significance.

Inside the temple complex, the first King of Bhutan, Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck, installed the Dus Kyi Khorlo — the Kalachakra Wheel of Time — to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Changlimethang in 1885. Later, Ashi Wangmo, the younger sister of the second King of Bhutan, built the Chorten Lhakhang adjacent to the main temple. The temple has been sacred ground for over 1,400 years and remains an active place of pilgrimage and prayer throughout the year.

Things to Do in Bumthang During the Festival

• Kurjey Lhakhang — one of Bhutan’s most sacred temple complexes, built around the cave where Guru Rinpoche left a body imprint in the rock. A short drive from Jambay Lhakhang and not to be missed.
• Mebar Tsho (The Burning Lake) — a sacred pool in the Tang Valley where Terton Pema Lingpa famously retrieved treasure texts from the water by diving in with a flaming torch. A site of great pilgrimage significance.
• Tamshing Lhakhang — founded by Pema Lingpa himself in 1501, this temple contains some of the finest original murals in Bhutan, painted during the founder’s lifetime. A chain mail coat belonging to Pema Lingpa is kept here; circumambulating while wearing it is believed to bring great merit.
• Prakhar Duchhoed — another festival held simultaneously in the Chumey Valley of Bumthang during the same days as the Jambay Lhakhang Drup, about 30 minutes by road. Attending both gives a remarkable picture of Bumthang’s festival life.
• Bumthang brewery and local food — Bumthang produces Bhutan’s most celebrated Red Panda beer and Swiss-influenced dairy products. The local buckwheat pancakes (khuray) are a festival-time staple.