Ura Yakchoe

Ura is the highest of the four valleys of Bumthang, about 3,100 m up on the road towards eastern Bhutan. Its village is a tight cluster of large houses with stone-paved lanes between them, and a temple beside it. For a few days each spring the whole community gathers there for the Yakchoe.

This is a small, local festival, and that is its appeal. There is no great dzong and no crowd of thousands. Villagers who have moved away come home for it, everyone knows everyone else, and visitors are few enough to be noticed and made welcome.

The story behind it

The festival is tied to a legend. Guru Rinpoche is said to have come to Ura disguised as a beggar, and an old woman who was spinning wool invited him in to eat. When she went back to her spinning he had gone, and in her wool basket lay a statue of Vajrapani. The statue has been handed down in her family ever since.

The festival opens with a procession that brings the relic, and the lama who presides, from the nearby temple of Gaden to Ura. It is then placed on view in the temple so that people can receive its blessing.

What you will see

Over the following days there are masked dances in the temple courtyard, folk dances by the women of the village, and a good deal of eating and drinking. The dancers are men of the village, and the atmosphere is closer to a family gathering than a ceremony.

When and how to go

The Yakchoe falls in April or May, when the rhododendrons are in flower on Thrumshing La, the pass beyond the village. Ura is 48 km from Jakar, an hour and a half to two hours by road, so it is visited as a day trip from a hotel in Bumthang. Our ten-day Bhutan Grand Cultural Tour spends three nights in Bumthang and can be timed to fit.

Practical notes

• Dress modestly and warmly. Ura is high, and spring days there can turn cold quickly.
• Ask before photographing people, and do not photograph inside the temple.
• The programme runs on village time, and start times shift. Your guide will find out what is happening when.