Starting at around 8am this morning a group of young men out on the field behind the Bhutan Suites where we are staying setting up for a Khuru game. Khuru, a traditional dart game is also a festive game. Unlike the darts we use, Bhutanese darts are bigger, they are made of wood with a five-inch nail hammered at the bottom and bird feathers pinned at the top. This is an outdoor game where the darts are thrown at targets placed between a distances of about 40 meters. The players are wearing the traditional clothes, gho, and then additional sashes of bright colors as they make personal hits on the target. Both sides seem to do a little chant and dance if someone hits their respective sandbag target. It is now 5:30pm and the game is still going on and it went on all day even in the rain. We had our binoculars out to learn the fine points of the game and at the end of the day walked over to the field to take a video clip and get some pictures. Today David is still not well so he did not come out touring in the morning but did some bird watching and also enjoyed the dart game.
Leslie went to the Chang Gangkha Lhakhang temple just behind the hotel and had the sacred water offering as well as a wood tap on the head. The temple was busy with people bringing their children for special blessings. There was a lovely view from the outer terrace over the valley. We then drove to a nunnery stopping for pictures of the Trashi Chhoe Dzong, and also drove to a highpoint where a new large gold Buddha statue is being constructed. We stopped back at the hotel to pick up David for lunch at the Bhutan Kitchen and had a nice buffet lunch. We walked the main street and saw the only police roundabout with the policeman directing traffic. It continued to rain so we went back to the hotel and managed to commandeer a DVD player. In Katmandu we had purchased a couple of movies with Bhutan and Tibetan themes. We watched Bhutanese movie "travelers and magicians" and will watch the Hollywood "7 years in Tibet" after dinner.
The architecture of the houses and other monastic buildings here in Bhutan has its main roots in Tibet. The hierarchy of floors in a typical Bhutanese houses start with the simple lower ground floor as shelter for livestock, with upper levels used for living and religious purposes. The foundation is laid with stones placed in a trench and built up to a height of 50 cm above the ground. Walls are usually made of stone in central and eastern Bhutan, and of compacted mud offering a strong and curable structure in the west. Traditionally, the windows on the lower floor are smaller than those on the upper floors. A cutout of curved trefoil motif called a horzhing is characteristic of all windows we have seen thus far in Bhutan. I have looked on the internet but have only seen slight discussion of these being of Persian influence but when we saw them it immediately made us think of Moorish architecture. Below the high-shingled roofs, there are large open spaces used for drying and above doors and windows they place elaborately painted timber cornices. Houses can have a festive appearance when painted with floral, animal and religious motifs. Some of the most common patterns represent the lotus, the eight auspicious symbols, mythical animals and large red phalluses. The phallus is supposed to ward away evil, and many houses are decorated with carved wooden phalluses hung at the four corners or over the door. A prayer flag can be seen on the centre of the roof of all Buddhist homes. What is strikingly different from the Tibetan homes is the colors used in the decoration. In Tibet the colors were the strong primarily Buddhist colors of red, blue, green, white, yellow, and black. Here in Bhutan the color pallet is much more earth toned, grey, ochre, clay, navy, and cream. This color pallet is also used in the furniture and clothing.
There is a royal wedding happening here in Bhutan on October 13th and I will need to try and watch it on the Internet.
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