Jakar tshechu, Ging Tsholing Cham

In the dance of the Ging and the Tsholing, the Tsholing are terrifying deities who are seen as protectors of the religion, and who purify the ground of evil influences. The Tsholing wear long colourful dresses and terrifying masks. The Ging make up Guru Rinpoche’s retinue, and wear tiger-skin skirts and masks with a flag on top. Each Ging dancer carries a drum in the left hand and a drumstick in the right hand.

The dance brings blessings, and is performed in order to remove all the obstacles to the doctrine as well as to bring happiness to all sentient beings. When the Ging and Tsholing perform this dance, they discourage the external demons and demonstrate clearly their magical powers by which they can overcome the demons. This dance is a dance of purification before the arrival of Guru Rinpoche. People whistle to chase away the bad spirits and Ging hit every-one on the head with their drumsticks to chase away impurity from the body. The Tsholing, after having destroyed the evil spirits symbolized by an effigy in a black box, are chased away by the Ging who stay alone and perform a dance of victory by beating their drums.

A tshechu (or tsechu) is an annual religious Bhutanese festival held in each district or dzongkhag of Bhutan on the tenth day of a month of the lunar Tibetan calendar. Tsechus are religious festivals, but also large social gatherings, which perform the function of social bonding among people of remote and spread-out villages. Large markets also congregate at the fair locations, leading to brisk commerce.

The focal point of the tshechus are Cham dances. These costumed, masked dances typically are moral vignettes, or based on incidents from the life of the 9th century teacher Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) and other saints.

Padmasambhava, the great scholar, visited Tibet and Bhutan in the 8th century and 9th century. He used to convert opponents of Buddhism by performing rites, reciting mantras and finally performing a dance of subjugation to conquer local spirits and gods. He visited Bhutan to aid the dying king Sindhu Raja. Padmasambhava performed a series of such dances in the Bumthang Valley to restore the health of the king. The grateful king helped spread Buddhism in Bhutan. Padmasambhava organized the first tshechu in Bumthang, where the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava were presented through eight forms of dances. These became the Cham dances depicting the glory of Padmasambhava.

Most tshechus also feature the unfurling of a thongdrel (or thangka) - a large tapestry typically depicting a seated Padmasambhava surrounded by holy beings, the mere viewing of which is said to cleanse the viewer of sin. The thongdrel is raised before dawn and rolled down by morning.

(source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tshechu)