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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00002187 Country Bhutan ICH Domain Social practices, rituals, festive events Address The Kharam festival is practiced in Tshenkhar gewog (block) villages; Domkhar, Tshenkhar, Tshochen, Umling, Bangtsho, Chabi, Dolepchen, within Lhuentse Dzongkhag. There are similar celebrations in the villages of Jaray gewog and a few villages under Menjay gewog, Lhuentse dzongkhag. Further, the same festive event is performed in some of the villages under Mongar Dzongkhag (district).Year of Designation 2022
| Description | Kharam is celebrated in all the villages under Tshenkhar gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag of Northeast Bhutan. In the local dialect, Tsangla, "Kharam" means "Gossiping negative forces”. Villages host the festive celebration to please the local deities, and to seek protection them from unforseen disasters for their crops, cattle, and fellow local people. They also pay homage to the local deities for protecting the people, yields and the domestic life of the country by natural calamities. The annual festive event is celebrated on 27th and 28th day of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The event is celebrated by performing ritual in the morning and consequently by performing boen choe “Bonism” by the communal people in respective locality and followed by traditional games like archery and khuru (dart) competition within the village. The main performer of the celebration is the Bonpo “Chant Leader” accompanied by all villagers irrespective of age. In the past, in the evening of the first day of the celebration, people used to ward-off the negative forces by hitting a rooster against a cow. However, now the community has stopped killing roosters and the symbolism was replaced using a feather. With the performance of Kharam, it is believed that the village will prosper and have good yield in that year with less mishaps in the community. |
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| Social and cultural significance | The Kharams celebration is performed over two days in all the villages of Tshenkhar gewog, and a few villages from Minjay and Jaray gewog in Lhuentse Dzongkhag. The celebration is carried out erecting a kharam-shing wood plate and phallus in front of the main house and cultivation field. This occasion comes before the annual rice yeild, and the community believes that by performing the celebration, the cultivated fields, cattle, and people are safe for a year. In short, this celebration avoids disasters and protects the livelihood of the community. People from those villages make sure to attend the festival no matter where they live. They believe that if they don’t attend, there might be mishaps in their family or suffer economic losses. The festive event forces all the family members to gather each year to spend time together and enjoy the local custom which strengthens their relationship. |
| Transmission method | The celebration of this festival involves all the community, from every age, which helps them to uphold and promote their unique culture and tradition. However, the ritual still faces challenges over time as many of the households no longer have cattle due to socio-economic development. Further, rural-urban migration threatens the transmission of this festive event to the younger generation. On the 27th day of 8th Month of the Bhutanese calendar, the events begin as people in the community gather collecting Shing-na-ghu or “nine different types of tree branches” making a bunch and sweeping the cattle and the people say “Pha la la” which means “sign of spitting,” making a wish to cleanse the evil present in the locality. The bundle of branches is kept at the junction of the road or path, setting three stones on top to keep them in place. This is a sign of suppressing the evil. On the second day, the 28th day of 8th Month of the Bhutanese calendar, a monk prepares Torma (sacrificial ritual cakes) for the feast offering, and pays homage to the local deities. Meanwhile, the women gather to prepare the feast offerings, and milk the cow tooffer the fresh milk. At the same time, the men go to the jungle to cut a tree to prepare Kha-ram shing “ritual plate” that holds the offering of kharang, rice, salt, ashes, etc. are wrapped in banana leaves and attached to it. Each householder prepares such a plate and a phallus, often painted red and surrounded by a bush of hair, then fixes it in between the edge of two branches of the festive plate. These symbolic phalluses are set over the main door of the houses and in the cultivated field. Such phalluses are believed to subjugate negative influences. Having prepared the materials for the celebration, the ritual chanting begins and torma ritual cakes are taken in the direction indicated by a Lama through astrology. After this, the festival takes on more Bonpo elements, the Bonpo priest recites prayers and mix the feast all together and place the wrappings on the kharam shing. This ritual is occasion to pay homage to the deities, but it is also a gathering of families and friends to spend their time together. Through the preparations and ritual people connect and it strengthens their relationships in the community. |
| Community | The festive event is mainly performed for the wellbeing of the cattle, crops and the people of the community. Depending upon the situation, some households come together to celebrate the occasion gathering their cattle at one location. Each household contributes the required items: rice, egg, vegetable, butter, cheese, Ara (local brewed wine), milk, curd etc. They make a feast offering at the same time. For those households that owns large number of cattle, the family get together to celebrate the occasion at their cowshed. As per the oral tradition, Agay (Grandpa) Maanla, age 81 from Mentsang village, says he participated in this festive event since the age of eight. Then, as he learned , his grandfather narrated the story of how this festival originated: “Once, there was a merchant in the village and he was a popular and wealthy man with lots of cattle, land filled with crops and a large number of servants for his family. The people in the village and nearby villages started speaking ill of the family and slandering him and his wealth. A year later, lots of mishaps happened to his family he lost his wealth. Then, he went to a great Lama “saint” to pay homage and guide him. Upon his request, the Lama informed him that the mishaps and disaster happened as the people in his village and nearby village were gossiping, saying both good or bad about his wealth. Hence, he is asked to perform this ritual to please the local deities in order to protect him and his family, cattle and crops”. From then on, the festive celebration was performed and passed from generation to generation to fulfill their wishes to protect from natural disasters. Data contributed by: Mr. Sonam Tenzin, NLAB |
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PI00007066
Kha-ram (gossiping negative forces)
Kharam is celebrated in all the villages under Tshenkhar gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag of Northeast Bhutan. In the local dialect, Tsangla, "Kharam" means "Gossiping negative forces”. Villages host the festive celebration to please the local deities, and to seek protection them from unforseen disasters for their crops, cattle, and fellow local people. They also pay homage to the local deities for protecting the people, yields and the domestic life of the country by natural calamities. The annual festive event is celebrated on 27th and 28th day of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The event is celebrated by performing ritual in the morning and consequently by performing boen choe “Bonism” by the communal people in respective locality and followed by traditional games like archery and khuru (dart) competition within the village. The main performer of the celebration is the Bonpo “Chant Leader” accompanied by all villagers irrespective of age. In the past, in the evening of the first day of the celebration, people used to ward-off the negative forces by hitting a rooster against a cow. However, now the community has stopped killing roosters and the symbolism was replaced using a feather. With the performance of Kharam, it is believed that the village will prosper and have good yield in that year with less mishaps in the community.
Bhutan 2021 -
PI00007065
Kha-ram (gossiping negative forces)
Kharam is celebrated in all the villages under Tshenkhar gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag of Northeast Bhutan. In the local dialect, Tsangla, "Kharam" means "Gossiping negative forces”. Villages host the festive celebration to please the local deities, and to seek protection them from unforseen disasters for their crops, cattle, and fellow local people. They also pay homage to the local deities for protecting the people, yields and the domestic life of the country by natural calamities. The annual festive event is celebrated on 27th and 28th day of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The event is celebrated by performing ritual in the morning and consequently by performing boen choe “Bonism” by the communal people in respective locality and followed by traditional games like archery and khuru (dart) competition within the village. The main performer of the celebration is the Bonpo “Chant Leader” accompanied by all villagers irrespective of age. In the past, in the evening of the first day of the celebration, people used to ward-off the negative forces by hitting a rooster against a cow. However, now the community has stopped killing roosters and the symbolism was replaced using a feather. With the performance of Kharam, it is believed that the village will prosper and have good yield in that year with less mishaps in the community.
Bhutan 2021 -
PI00007064
Kha-ram (gossiping negative forces)
Kharam is celebrated in all the villages under Tshenkhar gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag of Northeast Bhutan. In the local dialect, Tsangla, "Kharam" means "Gossiping negative forces”. Villages host the festive celebration to please the local deities, and to seek protection them from unforseen disasters for their crops, cattle, and fellow local people. They also pay homage to the local deities for protecting the people, yields and the domestic life of the country by natural calamities. The annual festive event is celebrated on 27th and 28th day of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The event is celebrated by performing ritual in the morning and consequently by performing boen choe “Bonism” by the communal people in respective locality and followed by traditional games like archery and khuru (dart) competition within the village. The main performer of the celebration is the Bonpo “Chant Leader” accompanied by all villagers irrespective of age. In the past, in the evening of the first day of the celebration, people used to ward-off the negative forces by hitting a rooster against a cow. However, now the community has stopped killing roosters and the symbolism was replaced using a feather. With the performance of Kharam, it is believed that the village will prosper and have good yield in that year with less mishaps in the community.
Bhutan 2021 -
PI00007063
Kha-ram (gossiping negative forces)
Kharam is celebrated in all the villages under Tshenkhar gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag of Northeast Bhutan. In the local dialect, Tsangla, "Kharam" means "Gossiping negative forces”. Villages host the festive celebration to please the local deities, and to seek protection them from unforseen disasters for their crops, cattle, and fellow local people. They also pay homage to the local deities for protecting the people, yields and the domestic life of the country by natural calamities. The annual festive event is celebrated on 27th and 28th day of the 8th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The event is celebrated by performing ritual in the morning and consequently by performing boen choe “Bonism” by the communal people in respective locality and followed by traditional games like archery and khuru (dart) competition within the village. The main performer of the celebration is the Bonpo “Chant Leader” accompanied by all villagers irrespective of age. In the past, in the evening of the first day of the celebration, people used to ward-off the negative forces by hitting a rooster against a cow. However, now the community has stopped killing roosters and the symbolism was replaced using a feather. With the performance of Kharam, it is believed that the village will prosper and have good yield in that year with less mishaps in the community.
Bhutan 202