This ritual is very unique because it is performed only by women in Ura, Bumthang District.

It is a three days ritual to please all their local deities and get blessings for good weather  and harvesting.

A group of village women from Ura will have to climb early morning to the summit of the mountain overlooking Ura to dance and invite the deities to come to the monastery for a three days celebration.

The three- day festival starts on the 10th day of the third Bhutanese month (April or May), coinciding with the anniversary of the death of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. Sacred dances such as the Black Hat Dance, the Three Ging and the drummers of Drametse are performed.

A small thongdroel (banner “which liberates by sight”) representing the future Buddha Maitreya (Jampa) is shown on one of the days. The people of Uru and Domkhar villages in Chhume valley provide the expenses for the festival every year.

The Tibetan Lama Namkha Sumdrup came to Tang after founding Ngang lhakhang in the upper Choekhor valley of Bumthang in the 16th century.  While performing  the consecration of this temple, he saw the Tang local deity Rinchen Goenyak, who is also the cattle deity, come as a yak and danced in the courtyard. The two other great protective deities Gonmo (Lhamo) and Gonpo join him as they accompanied the lama.

Based on this, Lama Namkha Samdrup established this annual event to which all the villagers contribute to please the deities. The lama from Thowadra monastery in Tang leads the ritual, Thowadra being the residence of the local deity.

The first day is dedicated to the preparation.

On the second day, women perform folk dances in the temple after the prayers are over. In the meantime, men dressed as warriors called pazaps, climb in a long procession up to Ogyen Choeling manor to invite the lord (Choeje) to the ceremony. On their way back, they are received by the women and all come back singing to the temple ground.

The highlights of the festival are the dances of Gonpo, Gonmo (Lhamo), also called ‘Gadpo’ and ‘Gadmo’ in Tang and Rinchen Goenyak. These three deities are represented by mannequins wearing huge masks and moved by people.

The yak, also simply called Dawala by the villagers, is very popular and its wooden mask has articulate jaws which clap, and it is considered as a blessing.

Offering of rice cakes (tshogs) to the guests of honor is a very important part of the ritual. The guests have to reciprocate with money. Finally money is also offered to the deities in a ceremonial and public manner while dancing and drinking continue into the night.

The last day is a repetition of the 2nd day, minus the procession to Ogyenchoeling.

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

The four-day festival is being observed in honor of the deity Chador (Vajrapani) whose statue is said to have appeared miraculously in a wool container of an old woman after Guru Rinpoche visited her house in Ura village. Guru Rinpoche had come to Ura as a beggar after the villagers implored him to cure a leprosy epidemy.

This sacred statue is kept the whole year in the house of the Lama of Gadan outside the village proper. It is said that when the statue arrived at Gadan, a snake rose from the place and escaped the valley. As Vajrapani is known for subduing the subterranean beings which are believed to afflict leprosy, the villagers knew the valley was freed from the curse.

The whole community participate to the festival in different capacities: women prepare food and drinks, young girls dance, present offerings and serve alcohol, men perform the dances and rituals, play musical instruments.

The first day statue of Vajrapani is taken out of its house in Gadan and brought in procession to the old woman house in Ura village and goes back to Gadan the last day of the festival. During this time, the caretaker of the statue and a central figure of the festival is the Gadan Gathpo (“the old man of Gadan”) who is at the same time a bawdy jester and the host of the festival. With a black wrinkled mask, dressed in dark woolen cloth and waving a wooden phallus, this figure has the heavy responsability of the smooth running of the festival.

Every afternoon, there is a ritual community gathering, the choja, where tea and rice are served accompanied by traditional songs.

During three days, mask dances performed by the gomchen (religious laymen) of Ura. These include the dances of the three kinds of Ging, Pholay Molay and the dance of the Drums from Drametse as well as Raksha marcham, the dance of the Judgement of the Dead, which is on the 15th day. This dance is followed by a procession of people carrying offerings and singing around the Ura temple courtyard.
On the 16th day, the Yakchoe ends with a general blessing of the public by the statue of Vajrapani and then goes back in a procession to Gadan.

A thangka of Guru Rinpoche presented by His Majesty the 5th King in 2010 is shown on the 15th day of the festival.
The mask dances were added to the Yakchoe some 75 years ago.

The festival itself is said to have been established in the 14th century but there is no historical text so far.

The story goes that while the saint Milarepa was meditating in a cave, he heard shouting and barking. He came out of his retreat and saw a stag covered with sweat and trembling with fear. Milarepa calmed it by singing a religious hymn and took it under his protection. Soon afterwards two dogs appeared which had been chasing the stag, and Milarepa won them over with one of his songs.

The hunter arrived unexpectedly, looking for his dogs, and when he saw them lying down with the stag at Milarepa’s feet, he flew into a rage and shot a poisoned arrow at the saint. The saint used his superhuman powers to snap the hunter’s bow, while the arrow, instead of hitting him, returned to the astonished hunter. Milarepa then intoned a song that succeeded in convincing the hunter to give up hunting and take up Buddhism.

The first part of this dance has a comic tone, starting with the hunter’s servant who jokes with the atsaras. The hunter, crowned with leaves and carrying his bow, then arrives with his two dogs. He performs non-Buddhist rituals aimed at bringing him good luck on the hunt, while his servant and the atsaras clown around him.

The second part is more dignified and religious. Milarepa appears clad all in white except for his characteristic red hat. He holds a pilgrim’s staff in his hand and with his songs he converts first the dogs and then the hunter. The conversion is symbolized by a rope over which the hunter and the dogs must jump.

The written story of King Norzang concerns the king’s love for his favourite queen, Yidrogma, which provokes the jealousy of the other queens. The latter arrange things so that the king goes off to war, and they then force Yidrogma to flee to her father in fear of her life. But when the king returns from battle he soon understands the stratagems of the other queens and begs Yidrogma to come back and live with him, which she finally consents to do.

The popular version of the original story is quite different: two princes go off to war, leaving their wives in the charge of a couple of old servants. As soon as the princes are out of sight, the princesses and the maidservant start romping with the atsaras. When the princes return they are furious and cut off the noses of their wives as punishment. The old servant also cuts off his wife’s nose. Then the princes allow themselves to weaken and they call for a doctor to sew back the noses. Although the doctor gladly sews back the noses of the beautiful princesses, he is far less enthusiastic about sewing on that of the maidservant, who smells awful. In the end all’s well that ends well and everyone is reconciled.

Skeletons guard the eight cremation grounds which are situated on the edges of the cosmic diagram where Tantric deities dwell. Their mission is to protect the cosmic diagram from harmful influences and spirits.

First comes a long dance by the Rakshas who are aides to the Lord of the Dead. They wear yellow skirts and animal masks. Then the Lord of the Dead—Shinje Choekyi Gyelpo—enters together with his attendants, the white god and the black demon who live with all beings and bear witness to their actions. The Lord of the Dead is a wrathful representation of Avalokiteshvara, the deity of compassion. Next begins the judgement proper. The first to enter is a sinner dressed all in black with a black mask, holding a basket containing a piece of meat that symbolizes his sins. The Lord of the Dead listens to his story, then has his actions weighed on a scale. The good actions are symbolized by white pebbles, the bad ones by black pebbles. The white god tries to save the sinner by emphasising his good actions, whereas the black demon describes the man’s wicked actions in detail. In the end, the sinner is sent to hell to the great joy of the black demon who accompanies him on the road to hell, symbolized by a length of black cloth.

A general dance ensues and then a virtuous man enters. As a sign of his piety, he is dressed in white, with a white face, and he holds a prayer flag. The same judgement scene as before unfolds and the virtuous man is sent to paradise on a road which is symbolized by a length of white cloth. The black demon tries to seize him at the last moment but the white god saves him and he is welcomed by celestial beings.