What type of festival?
The Jambay Lhakhang Drub is a unique and distinct festival in Bhutan, unlike the masked cham dances typical elsewhere. No other places or any other fortress and monasteries perform such dance. It features naked dance actually a great rituals that set it apart and mark it as an extraordinary cultural and religious event. All the local people and many people around the world who have known and heard of it come purposely to witness and get blessings.
When does it happen?
The festival is held annually, usually falling in October or November each year, following the traditional Bhutanese lunar calendar and drawing devotees and visitors during that autumn period.
How does it look?
All kind of dance happen in the day time yet this is only the dance happen at midnight. At midnight there will be a huge flames made of dried hays, made in a gate shape. Then the devotees gather and wait to pass through the gate of flames in a dramatic, evocative scene. The dancers perform their distinctive naked dances in the temple courtyard, moving through ritual sequences meant to enact spiritual drama and purification.
Why is it important?
The festival is considered deeply spiritual and is traditionally linked to the revered Tertön Pema Lingpa (Burning lake Treasurer) here the people shouts and participants believe that passing through the flames and witnessing the dances brings a spark of purification that cleanses sins, cures diseases, and removes obstacles from one’s life.
Where does it happen?
The primary and most famous location is Jambay Lhakhang in the HEART of Bhutan. There is a similar naked dance ritual also takes place at Chakaling in eastern Bhutan, but different is only every three years rather than annually.
