| Description |
Karmey: (Butter lamp Offering) during A-shey Lhamo Dance is an indigenous tradition practiced exclusively by women in the communities of Shingkhar, Somthrang, Pangkhar and Ura in Ura Gewog (block), Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). Colloquially, Karmey means offering butter lamps in all temples and monasteries in and around these communities. The element is closely related to an annual offering of Saang (smoke offering), popularly known as A-shey Lhamo which is normally conducted from 8th and 9th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. The Karmey program is the last and concluding event of the three-day A-shey Lhamo festival which is held on the 10th day of the 7th month coinciding the birth anniversary of Guru Padsambava.
The origin of Karmey is identical to that of A-shey Lhamo, although A-shey Lhamo is considered a Bon-kar (transformed Bon practices) and the other explicitly a Buddhist tradition. The establishment of the A-shey Lhamo festival dates back to the reign of Dung Lhawang Rabgay (local ruler) of the Ura community, not long before the advent of the Dung caste system in Bhutan around the 10th and 11th centuries. It is said that the misfortune of shey-ned (diarrhoeal infection) spread among the children of the Ura community, and to cure such epidemic diseases, Dung Lhawang Drakpa introduced the performance of the A-shey Lhamo dance, an offering to appease the female local deity on the eighth and ninth days of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. For most Bon practitioners throughout the country, this is a special day when they make confirmation offerings to their respective deities and ask for blessings of peace and happiness for the individual as well as for the entire community, country and all sentient beings in the world.
According to older members of these communities, they have noticed a decline and disappearance of this ancient practice over the years. They say that they remember crowds of women from communities like Ura, Pangkhar, Somthrang and even Singkhar singing and running to all the temples and monasteries to offer butter lamps and tshogs (offerings) and perform melodious folk dances right after the A-shey Lhamo festival was celebrated. There are also some native songs and dances that are sung and performed only on Karmey Day. It is believed that after the annual offering to the A-shey Lhamo deities according to the Bon Kar tradition, people also wanted to observe the Buddhist way of offering to the scattered temples and monasteries, which falls exactly on the 10th day of the month, which is revered as the birthday of Guru Padsambava, one of the highly revered saints who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism in the mid-8th century.
However, over time, the villages of Somthrang and Pangkhar have discontinued this tradition along with the performance of A-shey Lhamo, and today Shingkhar and Ura are the only two communities that follow and maintain this tradition.
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| Social and cultural significance |
Although Karmey is associated with the ritual A-shey Lhamo festival, its meaning, occasion and mood are completely different as it is a Buddhist practice. The element binds the people of the community to share their feelings and interests, gives opportunity to collect merit together by visiting temples and monasteries, celebrating the birthday of Guru Padmasambava and remembering his wholesome activities that brought the sacred teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism to the country and made it flourish. Karmey also help maintain the Buddhist tradition by engaging in dharmic activities and showing gratitude to the local guardians while maintaining the native songs and dances of the communities. |
| Transmission method |
Ever since the practice of A-shey Lhamo in these two communities, subsequently, the evolution of Karmey began to commemorate the birth day of Guru Padmasambava on the 10th day of the lunar month. The transmission of this practice was carried out in an oral from and its proceedings, dances and songs were acquired by imitating the elders and actively participating in such programs.
Right after the informal conclusion of A-shey Lhamo proceedings on the 9th day of the 7th lunar month. Unlike the participants of A-shey Lhamo, on the Karmey day many women including elderly women, young girls (teenagers and tweenagers) from the community actively participate in the touring program around the temples and monasteries located within Ura, Pangkhar, Beteng, Somthrang and Singkhar communities. Since there are more than 11 sacred sites to be visited, the leader of the participants normally called Tse-pon (the master of the dancer) reminds all the participants to carry pack lunch, snacks, lamp butter and Tshog which is optional. They have to be as early as possible as they have to walk to all the temples in the olden days. However, these days they arrange a vehicle that can easily transport the interested participants without much problems therefore, they gather at the respective comminute temples at around 7 to 7:30 am. The entourages from Singkhar and Ura community starts visiting temples from their own community temples and then to the nearby and finally to the farthest temples and monasteries.
While heading to the temples, the folks sing an indigenous song titled “Sho mo a-lay lo mo a-ley lo” signifing the temple caretaker that they are coming and reminding the other community member of the 10th day which coincides the birth anniversary of Guru Rinpoche. The particular song Sho mo a-lay lo mo a-ley lo is believed to be a sacred and blessing song as the tune and the basic structure of the lyric are composed by the disciples, patrons and devotees mostly the enlightened beings of Guru Padmasambava while he was departing Tibet at Gungthang la (Mountain) in Mangyul province in the year of Wood Monkey year (864) as narrated by the literate locals.
After entering in the temple, first and foremost they collectively offer the offerings of butter lamps and tshog and lit the butter lamp prepared by the caretaker. After the caretaker sprinkle the holy water over the lit butter lamp, the folks start prostrating first towards the throne where Lama (spiritual abbot) usually sits during the ceremonial events for three times and another three times facing the main alter. While the women remain standing and making their prayers of wishes, the caretaker serves droplets of holy water from the special miniature vase. Finally, the women form a circle and starts making offering of melodious song and charismatic dance of Om lha-sa mani. This is a one of the spiritual folk song especially sung and performed in such sacred places and during the other religious occasions. The lyrics of the song has praise to the respective temples, the name of founder and the local guardian specific vicinity, inquire about their health and concludes by making wishes of seeing and visiting again in the coming year experiencing sound health and tranquility. They leave the temple and then go to the next temple or monastery that is near their community and repeat the same process. However, it is a common belief to visit the holy sites in a clockwise direction, which is an auspicious way of going around the holy sites.
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| Community |
The Ura community, which has four divisions known as Ura-do-zhi, namely Kris-pa, Tod-pa, Tarshong-ba and Charzhung-ba, has 68 households and an approximate population of 340, while the other community of Singkhar has 46 households, according to the Dzongkhag census and population data on its website. The element is currently practiced exclusively by the women of these two communities.
Ura is interpreted as U stands for Ugyen Guru (Guru Padsambava) and the following pair of letters is an abbreviation for ra-wa (fence or boundary) of the ridge that keeps the valley hidden from others. Hence, the community is also known as Ur-bey, which literally means the hidden land of Guru Padsambava. Singkhar, on the other hand, refers to the people who live in the shelters made of wood. However, it is quite obvious from the establishment of two temples by Kunkhen Longchenpa (1308-1363), a Tibetan scholar of the Nyingmapa school who visited Bhutan in the 13th century and the settlements were the descendants of his followers.
Data collected by: Mr. Yeshi Lhendup, NLAB |
