Trip Overview
The Nabji Lhakhang Drup festival is a unique festival celebrated in the beautiful Nabji village in Trongsa. The village is remotely located in central Bhutan where the pilot Community based tourism trek passes through. The festival is held in honor of Guru Rinpoche, the saint who introduced Buddhism in the 8th century and to commemorate the establishment of the Nabji temple. Similar to the Jambay Lhakhang Drup, its highlight is the ‘Mewang” – the fire blessing ceremony and the ” Tercham” – a religious naked dance. During the fire blessing, locals run underneath a gigantic flaming gate made out of dry grasses with ambers and piles of burning grasses falling on their head. The other event “Tercham” (literally translated Dance of Treasure) is performed by naked dancers wearing facial masks. We mean completely naked. Locals believe that the Tercham can bless the infertile women with children, and is only performed in the night around a bonfire. A variety of traditional and mask dances each bearing significant importance follows after the main events and all these sacred dances are thought to be composed by Terton Pema Lingpa, the great treasure discoverer of the 15th century. The trip will be a combination of low-altitude trek for 6 days combined with the festival will make for a in-depth experience of Bhutan. Bhutan Travel Club actively promotes this trek to help benefit the locals and as we have been involved in the development of this pilot project with the Government from the very inception of this project.