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Dassain: A Festival of Southern Bhutanese
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  • Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright
    Manage No EE00002061
    Country Bhutan
    ICH Domain Social practices, rituals, festive events
    Address
    In Bhutan, Dassain is celebrated in the regions populated by the Southern Bhutanese. Tsirang is one of those Dzongkhags (districts) located at the Southwestern part of Bhutan on the Wangdue-Gelephu highway. Today, it has more than 2200 population with over 5000 households mix of many races; People jokingly say that one can find people of twenty Dzongkhag in one Dzongkhag. Out of the total pollution, the majority are the Lhotsampas who have been residing as early as 19th century. Accordingly, almost every place in the Dzongkhag was given a Lhotsampa name until the time Bhutanese names were given as replacement after other ethnic groups like Sharchop, Khengpa, Bumthap, Kurthoep and other races began to inhabit as a part of land kidu (Grant) offered by the King. For an example, a village visited by the team for interview was named Patshaling after the place’s abundance in bamboo canes (Pacha). The old name of the village was Bhulkay and Beteni gewog. In the earlier days, Mendrelgang was popularly known as Lamidara (Long Mountain) since the is valley surrounded by a chain of mountains. Despite the mix in ethnicity and the nature of the palaces, Dassain is a festival celebrated across all the Lhotsampa houses in Tsirang.
    Year of Designation 2022
Description Dassain symbolizes the victory of good/virtue prevailing over evil/falsity. It is the most important festival in Nepal. Since most of the Lotshampas (Southern Bhutanese) originated from Nepal, the southern Bhutanese celebrate it every year in September or in beginning days of October. The date of celebration varies every year which marked as per the Hindu calendar. According to Hindu Mythology, Dassain festival has been celebrated since Lord Ram and Goddess Durga had gotten the victory over Ravan and Mahisharura, the demons who had created terror in the Devaloka (the world where God reside.) consequently, the festival is a way of acknowledging triumph over an evil spirit. Dassain is popularly a celebration within families lasting for 15 days starting from bright lunar fortnight to full moon (Hindu calendar) The days are divided for the activities starting from cleaning, washing to shopping. However, in Bhutan the official declaration of holiday is one day (day of Tika.) The community people explain that the significance of celebrating the festival with families is to honour the unity of Lord Ram’s Monkey army who helped him build the stone bridge to connect Lanka where Sita has been confined. The most memorable of all days of Dassain is the Vijaya Dashami or the Day of Victory. On this day, the families gather to put tika (rice mixed with curd) beginning with the eldest person on the youngest. The person who puts tika also has to give money as a symbol of blessing. In the community level, the Gup, head of the community will be invited to receive the Raja Tika. However, the nature of celebration of Dassain then and now has taken a transformation; earlier all the people of the community used to come together for the grand festive celebration, but nowadays due to the modernization and employment opportunities, many of the family members have migrated to the urban cities or travelled aboard, leaving the celebration only for members present during the occasion.
Social and cultural significance To celebrate and value the culture of Dassain matters and socially impacts every Lhotsampa today. Firstly, through such practices the intangible culture heritage can be preserved that will help recognize the identity as of "Lotsham-pa”. In addition, the continued and systematic practices will play a vital role in teaching the younger generation the art of acknowledging and worshipping different gods and goddesses. Additionally, the annual celebration enables the community in upholding the value and significance of the occasion. Since, Dassain is a festival which brings families and communities together, it provides a moment for far flung family members and neighbors to gather and unite. In nutshell, Dassain celebration extends an opportunity to generate faith, hope and inspiration from the blessings and love one would receive from the elders and seniors during the Tika ceremony.
Transmission method The community people believe in the transmission of the culture through involvement of family members during the festive occasions, they say that involvement of the youth will enable them to have hands on experience that will give them detailed information and idea about how and why such festival is celebrated. Besides celebration, the elderly people also focus on oral transmission of the information through the narration of the Epic of Ram. Glimpses into preparation of Dassain: 1. Preparation of Tika: Tika is a core aspect of the celebration. A bowl of rice is taken and washed which is then mixed with yogurt/curd to make it sticky. Finally, red or pink colour extracted either from flowers or artificial colour is added to give the tika a touch of glow. 2. Preparation of Jamara: Jamara is a young maize plants out on the ears during the tika ceremony. The maize seeds are sown in a bowl full of manure 10 days before the ceremony. The putting of the plant on the ear carries a significance of blessing the people with a new beginning like the plant which has just begin its life. 3. Vijaya Dashami program: The celebration date differs every year which is marked as per the Hindu Calendar. Vijaya Dashami is the 10th Day of the celebration during which families moves around visiting relatives to have a dab of Tika put on their forehead. The Tika ceremony starts with the head of the family usually the grandparents put Tika on everyone starting from eldest to youngest. Along with Tika, Jamra and flowers are put on ears. The one who puts the Tika also has to give Dachina (money). The younger ones prostrate to their elders as a gesture of receiving blessings. The Tika ceremony ends on the 15th day when the parents put Tika on their children, and finally the remains of the Tika, Jamra and the flowers are emptied in the flower gardens the following morning. 1. Preparation of Raja Tika: During the first day of the Tika ceremony, the head of the priest will perform a ritual and put tika on the king after which the priests and the citizen involved in the celebration will get to put on Tika by the king. 2. Raja Tika program: Raja refers to the ruler while Tika is the hindu term used to refer to the coloured rice mixed with yogurt that people put on their forehead during the Tika ceremony. In the olden days, Raja Tika is referred to the Tika put by Lord Ram. However, to the present day, especially in Bhutan, it refers to the first Tika put onto the priest by His Majesty the king. Raja Tika is also practiced in the local level where the community people gather in a specified place to receive blessings from the Dzongdag (Head of the Dzongkhag) or the Gup who is the lead of the local government.
Community Almost every twelve gewogs under Tsirang Dzongkhag can be seen populated with ethnic Lhotsampa (Nepali Bhutanese) castes like Bhawun, Chetri, Gurung, Mongar, Rai, Subba, Sunwar, Tamang, Bishukarma and Darje. The inhabitants of these places are the group of people who migrated in Bhutan from Nepal and parts of India, consequently they are the practitioners and bearers of cultures like Dassain which is very much a Hindu festival. However, this paper specifically focuses on two out of the twelve gewogs (Mendrelgang and Patsaling) visited by the team for our data collection. Mendrelgang is located located in south east part of the Tsirang Dzongkhag with an area of 15.50 sq. km with altitude ranging from 700 to 1400 meters above the mean sea level. It is a beautiful valley with fertile soil with majority of cultivable land inhabited by 389 households divided into five chiwogs. Varieties of vegetables are being cultivated and distributed in abundance to be marketed in the Vegetable market of the capital city and the neighboring Dzongkhag Sparpang. In addition, the people also cultivate orange and cardamom in large scale. Patshaling village has around 277 households with people living in a widely extended and dispersed settlement. It is located in western part of the Tsirang Dzongkhag with an area of 170.9 sq. km with altitude ranging from 600 to 1900 meters above the mean sea level. The people of the Gewog mainly grow maize, wheat and rice The residents of the two gewogs along with the other Lhotampas of Tsirang take pride in the celebration of Dassain every year, upholding the culture passed down from their Hindu ancestors who celebrate in the name of victory and in remembrance of Lord Ram and goddess Durga. Data collected by: Ms. Namgay Dem, Teacher, Mendrelgang Center School, Tsirang
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Information source
National Library and Archives of Bhutan
https://www.library.gov.bt/archive/
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