| Description |
This is a very simple custom in which especially the young cowherds and enthusiastic adults of the village faithfully participate every year. It was considered a highly privileged holiday, a well-deserved break exclusively for young cowherds from their daily work. It is an old custom to visit the temple of Tsito Goen-pa once a year and offer butter lamps and prayers. For cowherds, it is a very important holiday or rather a sacred day when they can take time off from their daily work of herding cattle, especially cows.
The Kar-mey or butter lamp offering at Tsitu Goen-pa Temple is held every year on the 15th day of the 7th month in the Bhutanese calendar. Tsitu Goen-pa is an ancient temple founded by Lam Lotoey Jamtsho. I have not been able to trace the history of the founder and the temple, but would recommend further research in the future, and I believe that some information is also kept in the temple in text or oral form by the guards and the administrator of the temple. Tsito Goen-pa is located on a hilltop, barely 40 minutes from the nearest highway, making it a pleasant walking route for tourists who also visit the temple to receive blessings. The temple is believed to house sacred relics, the unique remains of the skullcap of Lam (Spitirual master) Lotoey Jamtsho and the sacred Phurpa or ritual dagger believed to have flown from a place called Tosakha. It is shown to the public only on auspicious days or other important religious holidays.
The government of Bhutan has been struggling with the problem of rural-urban migration since the early 1990s. The country is undergoing a rapid phase of development in which modernity is displacing tradition and culture, which are becoming less and less important. With rural roads connecting farmlands and easy and quick access to markets, agricultural trade has become very convenient, while at the same time the ancient culture of pilgrimage, backpacking and walking to visit a temple or monastery is rapidly losing its enthusiasm and importance. Villagers are looking for lucrative ways to farm and use modern techniques and equipment. Cowherds no longer have to go high into the mountains in search of fresh pasture for their cattle because a new way of feeding cows is being introduced that increases milk production. These are some examples that are pushing the ancient culture to the brink and gradually bringing it to extinction. The Tsito Goen-pa Kar-mey is no longer practiced because there are hardly any young shepherds left and they hardly need leave to visit the temple.
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| Social and cultural significance |
It is a traditional custom of every Bhutanese to visit a temple or a lhakhang to offer food and butter lamps and in return ask for blessings for the welfare of the family, to deliver all sentient beings from the world of suffering to heaven, and to pray for the fulfillment of one's wishes. Generally, it is said that if you visit a temple or monastery on an auspicious holy day, you will collect good merits that will help you reach the heavenly realm after death. Therefore, people in Jagathang and neighboring villages of Lamgong Gewog consider Tsito Goen-pa Kar-mey a very important day in their lives, giving them the opportunity to take a day off from their daily work to visit a temple, offer prayers, light butter lamps, ask for blessings for protection, and meet with friends and relatives. |
| Transmission method |
The boys and girls were eagerly anticipating this day, as it gave them a break from their daily chores (especially the strenuous cow herding) and they could meet with their friends and relatives. They packed their lunch and headed to the temple early in the morning. At the temple, they offer butter lamps, prostrate themselves and ask for blessings for their welfare. For the welfare of the temple and the janitor, the visitors also offer numerous grains of rice as a gesture of goodwill. |
| Community |
Lamgong Gewog consists of over 700 households with a population of about 3200 people. The Gewog is accessible by a dirt road running through its villages and borders Haa district to the west.
Data collected by: Mr. Galey Wangchuk, NLAB. |
