It was a week of
festivities in Bhutan with at least two major reasons for the nation to
celebrate. First it was the Lunar New Year of the wood sheep called Losar. Not
just in Bhutan, the day is celebrated by Buddhist the world over.
In Bhutan, this is
the time of feastings and festivities too. People prepare days before every
Losar for feasting and celebration. And these include buying meat in advance
and loads of meat too, to see off a month long meat ban during the auspicious
first lunar month. Families also converge together and traditional games of
archery, khuru and degor are also prearranged between different groups.
Despite the festive
occasion, I can certainly say that the enthusiasm for the festivials like Losar
have gone down compared to the past decades in urban centres. But, out in the villages,
people still celebrate with enthusiasm. For the third day, I can hear the
celebratory shouts of archery, khuru or degor matches going on somewhere within
the hearing distance.
In parts of the
villages people in groups are said to be rotating each day between homes
sharing the best of local brew warmed in butter and eggs.
The third day of
the sheep year coincided with another important event in the country, the birth
anniversary of His Majesty, the King. His Majesty turns 35 today and the
entire nation not only rejoices his birthday but wishes him good health and
fulfillment of his aspirations for the country.
This year, on
behalf of the people, the Prime Minister made five pledges as offerings to His
Majesty, the King and His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. In his traditional
state of nation speech, the Prime Minister underlined the following five
pledges:
-
A pledge
to work hard by all civil servants and build a stronger and stable Bhutan.
-
A pledge
to root out corruption and strengthen institutions that play as deterrent to
corruptions like the national Anti Corruption Commission, the royal audit
authority, the office of attorney general and judiciary. This was significant,
given that the foreign minister flanking the prime minister was facing
corruption charges.
-
A pledge
for all the school children to read at least a book each month in pursuit of national
aspiration of knowledge based society and also as a part of dedication to His
Majesty, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s 60th birth anniversary, dedicated
as the national reading year.
-
A pledge
for each teacher to adopt a child from disadvantaged families and support the
child for a year and come out with a report by the end. Something like a social
responsibilities for thousands of teachers.
-
A pledge
to restore thousands of hollowed and derelict choetens in the country in a
year. Despite the need to restore these choetens, it would be important to do
it in a way that does not attract another spate of vandalism. I don’t know why,
but I still have some reservations on whether this will be worth after all.
There are two more
days of the five days holidays for civil servants and office goers. For farmers, preparations are on to begin
tilling land for maize plantations in lower altitudes. For them, after two
important festivities, life quickly reverts back to normal chores.
Gyembo Namgyal
February 21, 2015
11.58 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment