Nyimalung Tsechu

• Local NameNyimalung Tsechu
• Date - Bhutanese5th month 8th-9th-10th days
• Date - Westerndates to be verified every year
• Categoryreligious rituals
• Practiced AtNyimalung Shedrup Darjay Choeling monastery, Chhume, Bumthang
• CommunityNyimalung monastery

This festival takes places from the 8th to the 10th day of the 5th Bhutanese month (June or July), which coincides, with the birth of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava).

Performed in the courtyard of the Shedrup Darjay Choeling monastery of Nyimalung, it consists of dances (the Black hat dance, the Three Ging and the drummers of Drametse) and recitation of the Lama Norbu Gyamtso, a famous “treasure text” from the great saint Pema Lingpa (1450-1521).

On the 10th morning of the festival, a large (9 x12 m) appliqué banner, thongdroel, is displayed to the public on the façade of the main temple. The banner, representing Guru Rinpoche, his two consorts and his Eight Manifestations as well as other important historical and religious figures of Bhutan, was offered to the monastery by a Japanese lady. It took nine months to be completed and was consecrated in 1994