Punakha Drubchen — February / March
A few days before the Punakha Tshechu, a different and older kind of festival takes place at the walls of Punakha Dzong. The Punakha Drubchen, also known as Punakha Dromche, does not look back at myth but at history, reenacting one of the most decisive moments in Bhutan’s past: the defeat of Tibetan invaders by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1639.
What makes Drubchen unlike any other Bhutanese festival is its cast. The Pazaps, warriors drawn exclusively from the Wang Tshochey clans of the Thimphu and Punakha regions, dress in intricately patterned ghos, yellow silk skirts, and heavy metal helmets as they perform traditional war dances and battle re‑enactments in Punakha Dzong’s grand courtyard. Led by eight generals known as Magpons, the procession of hundreds of monks and lamas in red hats makes its way to the banks of the Mochhu River, where the climax unfolds: the Je Khenpo, Bhutan’s spiritual leader, ceremonially tosses oranges into the river, symbolising the submersion of a sacred relic that once deceived the Tibetan forces into believing their campaign had failed. The generals are then carried up the dzong steps in triumph.
For visitors, watching a 17th-century military victory reenacted on the banks of a Himalayan river, with the sound of horns and drums carrying across the water, is something genuinely extraordinary.
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