Traditions of Paro
A valley town in Bhutan whose spring tsechu brings masked dances to the courtyard of the dzong.
Paro is a small town in a green valley in western Bhutan, with a fortress monastery, or dzong, above the river. Buddhist festivals called tsechus are held in the courtyards of dzongs across Bhutan, and the one at Paro is among the best known. Visitors arrive in national dress as a sign of respect.
The Paro Tsechu
Over several days in spring, monks and laymen in painted masks dance the stories of Guru Rinpoche in the courtyard. Families dress in their finest cloth, the gho for men and kira for women. On the last morning a huge thangka, a sacred painting, is unfurled at dawn for a blessing and then rolled away again.
At the table
Bhutan's national dish is ema datshi, chillies cooked in cheese, served with red rice. Butter tea, suja, is offered to guests, and ara, a local spirit, appears at festivals. Families eat together and pass food around the circle in order of age.
Signature traditions of Paro
Also part of it, and being written: Tsechu (The Bhutanese festival of masked dance.), Ema datshi (The chilli and cheese stew of Bhutan.), Gho (The national dress.).
A trail idea for Paro
- Rinpung Dzong Walk across the covered wooden bridge to the fortress.
- Taktsang Monastery Climb to the Tiger's Nest on a cliff above the valley.
- Paro weekend market Meet farmers selling cheese and chillies.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tshechu: Stephen Shephard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Butter tea: Yosomono, CC BY 2.0, source