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Performer steadying his gilded crown with a hand that also holds a ritual bell

Bhutan

Bhutan National Day

December 2010

Bhutan celebrates National Day each year on 17 December, commemorating the establishment of the country’s hereditary monarchy. On 17 December 1907, Ugyen Wangchuck was enthroned at Punakha Dzong as Bhutan’s first Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King. His accession founded the Wangchuck dynasty and consolidated central authority in the modern Bhutanese state.

National Day is observed throughout Bhutan with royal addresses, ceremonial processions, official honors, cultural performances, and community gatherings. The principal venue varies by year; national ceremonies have been held at sites including Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu and Punakha Dzong. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the fifth and reigning Druk Gyalpo, ascended the throne in 2006, with his formal coronation held in 2008. Bhutan is known in Dzongkha as Drukyul, the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

Elderly woman in a spiked conical cane hat and coral bead necklace, head bowed
Seen from behind, a woman wearing a pointed cane hat over layered strands of beads
Schoolgirls in brown jackets, green skirts and red neckerchiefs gathered on a dry field
Uniformed men marching in step with rifles as a stray dog trots alongside them
Dancer in a brocade robe and fringed headdress, a ritual bell raised beside him
Performer steadying his gilded crown with a hand that also holds a ritual bell
Two dancers in gold crowns and brocade robes, one glancing back with cymbals in hand
Masked dancers in yellow skirts walking barefoot uphill past rows of colored banners
Barefoot performers in patchwork brocade heading up a slope lined with cloth banners
Students in blue jackets and checked skirts waiting behind a line of colored banners
Two boys in checked robes and yellow ceremonial scarves, one arm around the other
Marchers carrying a beribboned framed portrait of the king across the parade ground
Embroidered dance boots with curled toes standing on dry grass
Schoolchildren pressed into a tight huddle, heads together, on a hillside
Boy grinning back over his shoulder from a huddle of classmates in yellow scarves
Bending to adjust the ties of his embroidered knee-high boots before performing
Backs of students in checked robes and yellow scarves huddled below forested hills
Young monks in maroon robes among spectators beside a broad tree trunk, mountains behind
Women in blue brocade jackets and striped skirts with fringed sashes, walking away
Woman in a white headscarf with a gold nose ring and green bead necklace at a market

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