As I hinted a few days back Paro is currently hosting a festival called Tshechu which is being held in the grounds of Rinpung Dzong (the local traditional fort). The name "Tschechu" means "tenth day" as the festival is held on the 10th day of a month according to their Lunar calendar (It seems not all lunar calendars are the same). As this second link will indicate there are infact many Tshechu festivals in Bhutan many more than one per month, each in a different town. But it seems that the Tschechu in Paro and Thimphu are the largest. Each festival lasts for 4 days with a fixed schedule of events. On the last day of the festival (tomorrow when we will not be here) a large painting (98ft x 148ft) is unfurled.

We got a photo of the large painting from our guide aftre we left Paro. I have added it as the last photo.

We visited the festival activities this morning to find there was a huge crowd and hence we did not see much of the dancing performances but we really enjoyed watching the people who attended. Almost all attendees were local and all were in traditional dress even the smallest of the children. Some of the traditional garments being worn were beautiful and clearly valuable. People were out to be seen as much as to see. For some it was about showing their wealth. Does that sound familiar ?

After our visit to the festival we had lunch of cake and ice-cream at a rare Western style coffee house and then did a little bit more exploring of the town and the "fun" festival attractions such as archery and carnival rides, though we took no rides ourselves. Bit past that.