The microphone is working. The “mic check” sound is loud enough for the surrounding hills to echo and amplify it, alerting the capital’s residents that there is an event at the Changlimithang park.

Thimphu is in a festive mood. Pre-tshechu activities started as early as Thursday night heralding a long weekend. At the Tashichhodzong, after days of Sungchoed (prayers) inside, the mask dancers are out at the Tendrelthang. Thousands have gathered to witness the sacred dances with a wish to earn some merits.

Tshechu is an integral part of our culture and a much-awaited annual event. Although it is also popular among tourists the crowd is predominantly Bhutanese who come for the blessings as well to enjoy the break from work and the excitement of being a part of the event. For the rural folks, especially in western Bhutan, it is an indication of the beginning of a busy work cycle.

Farmers believe that the tshechu break is a time to rest, have fun and feast on delicacies before they start the busy harvest season.  It is also the time to pray to the protective deities to save their crops from natural disasters. Every year, retreating monsoon damages harvested paddy, the main food crop in the west.

Besides the sacredness and the fun festival, with a tinge of Bhutanese flavour, the way we celebrate our tshechu is changing. It is expanding, with celebrations unfolding over a couple of days. The mask dances  usually end in the evening at the Tendrelthang. Thereafter, another sort of tshechu happens in the city, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning.

After the mask dances, it is the unmasked dances at open air music festivals, dance parties, and the “melas” that attract the crowd, an inevitable part of the tshechus, dromches, and other religious festivals. During the day, many attend the festival as devotees and in the evenings, we become devotees  of a different kind. We cannot stop the change. In fact, the festivities in the evening, sometimes into late nights, add colour and fun to the festive mood.

However, not all agree with the changing trends. Even if they accept that youth could go out and enjoy dance and music the whole night, it should not be a public nuisance. Residents around Changlimithang, especially along the Chang and Norzin Lam, are complaining of the loud music and the wild crowd. Unfortunately, most of the guests visiting Bhutan around this time of the year reside in hotels that cannot keep out the late night Changlimithang craze.

The music shows and parties  coinciding with the tshechus and dromchoes are loud, environmentally damaging, unhealthy, unsafe, and organised without finesse even if they are popular.

While we cannot stop people from enjoying, especially during the festive period, we could organise our entertainment better. People are complaining of the noise and the disturbances, the garbage left behind and the public nuisance. Bhutanese love fun. However, given the trends that we have seen over the years, it is obvious that entertainment has to be properly organised.  It would be an irony for our guests to remember the Thimphu tshechu festival by the late night disturbances and not by the colourful gathering or the sacred mask dances.