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People of Bhutan
The Bhutanese culture is one most
cautiously protected and well conserved
cultures in the world. The people of
Bhutan realize that other than their
centuries old culture and revered
values, there is little else that is
exclusive to their small and less
developed country. In a bid to prevent
their ancient customs from being
influenced by the West, the Bhutanese
government has made it mandatory for all
Bhutanese to wear only their national
dress in public.
All Bhutanese art-dance, drama and
music-is steeped in Buddhism. The
paintings are not produced for tourists,
but for religious purposes; festivals
are not quaint revivals, but living
manifestations of a national faith; and
almost all art, music and dance
represents the struggle between good and
evil. These traditions can be seen in
all their glory at Bhutan 's spectacular
religious festivals called Tsechus.
Culture
The largest and most colorful festivals
take place at Bhutan's dzongs and
monasteries once a year, especially in
honor of Guru Rimpoche. They are
normally celebrated in spring and
autumn. Tsechus consist of up to five
days of spectacular pageantry, masked
dances and religious allegorical plays
that have remained unchanged for
centuries. Besides being a vital living
festival and an important medium of
Buddhist teaching, tsechus are huge
social gatherings. Bhutanese revel and
exult together, dressed in their finest
clothes and jewelry, in a welcoming
ambiance where humor and devotion go
hand in hand. For guests, the tsechu
provides an ideal opportunity to
appreciate the essence of the Bhutanese
character.
The Bhutanese diet is rich in meat,
dairy, grain (particularly rice) and
vegetables. Emadachee, made with green
hot chilies and cheese stew, is
considered the national dish with many
interpretations to this recipe
throughout the kingdom. Meat dishes,
mainly pork, beef and yak, are lavishly
spiced with chilies, and it is common to
see bright red peppers drying on
rooftops in the sun. Salted butter tea,
or suja, is served on all social
occasions. Though there is plenty of
white rice, Bhutanese prefer a local,
slightly nutty, red variety. At high
altitudes, wheat is the staple. Several
Tibetan-style dishes are common,
including momos (dumplings), and thukpa
(noodles). Pork fat is popular in the
wilds because of its high-energy
content. Chang, a local beer, and ara, a
spirit distilled from rice, maize, wheat
or barley, are also common and widely
favored. Doma or betel nut is offered as
a customary gesture of greeting.
Wildlife
In Bhutan over 160 species of mammals
have been recorded so far including
Tiger, Snow Leopard, Takin Red Panda,
Blue Sheep, Musk Deer, Elephant,
Rhinoceros, Golden Langur. Other animals
found in Bhutan are the Ganges River
Dolphin , Golden Leaf Monkey ,
Particolored Flying Squirrel and the
Wild Water Buffalo . Other endangered
animals are also found in Bhutan like.
- Argali
- Asiatic Black Bear
- Assamese Macaque
- Clouded Leopard
- Dhole
- Eurasian Otter
- Gaur
- Mainland Serow
- Sikkim Rat
- Sloth Bear
- Smooth-coated Otter
- Takin
The fauna diversity is just as rich with
as many as 620 species of birds recorded
till date which includes the Black
necked Crane, White bellied Heron,
Rufous necked Hornbill and the
Lammergeiers While most of Asia's bird
habitats (forests) are being and have
been decimated, Bhutan is a very special
because of its lack of deforestation and
the government's commitment to preserve
wildlife. Few developing countries have
the cultural and environmental
interconnectedness that Bhutan has
always promoted. 60 percent of Bhutan is
now forested and, by law, will remain
forested. Bhutan has the highest
percentage of ecological preserves in
the world; over 26 percent of Bhutan is
designated for environmental
conservation. While all of this makes
economic sustainability tougher but a
more needed policy, it provides the bird
lover with the world's best viewing
opportunity.
Birds in Bhutan can be found from the
glacial alpine regions of the north to
the sweltering tropics of the south. The
geography and altitude is also the most
diverse areas of bird habitats ever
found in a single country. Endangered
Black Necked Cranes winter in the
temperate Phobjikha Valley highland
marshes while the Rufous-Necked Hornbill
hides out in the lush tropical rain
forests of the south.
Flora & Fauna
Bhutan has a very rich species of flora
ranging from altitudes as low as 200m to
as high as 4000m. Over 5500 species of
vascular plants have been recorded till
date including 46 species of
Rhododendrons and 369 species of
Orchids. The Bhutan Himalayas is also
important source of valuable medicinal
plants used in ayurvedic medicine so
much so that a National Institute of
Traditional Medicine has been
established at Thimphu . Blue Poppy is
one of the many flowers found abundantly
in Bhutan . Dochula Pass is one of the
main places in Bhutan where you flowers
thrive. As one arrives at the pass the
air is heady with the scent of Daphne, a
small shrub with fragrant white flowers,
covering the the slopes where a myriad
of colorful prayer flags stand. The
Daphne bark is used to make traditional
Bhutanese paper, which has the rare
characteristic of being termite proof
and thus highly valued for writing
religious scriptures. A little further
on, vivid bursts of scarlet amidst the
dense forest signal the first
rhododendrons. Then, etched against the
brilliant blue winter sky are the
magnificent white blossoms of the
Magnolia Campbelli adorning the tall,
leafless trees. The magnolias and the
rhodies will continue to flower for the
next two months. The scarlet rhodies
being succeeded by other varieties: deep
and pale pink, lavender, white, yellow,
and orange. Some 54 varieties of this
magnificent species are found in Bhutan
.
Bhutan's forest are divided into the
Alpine Zone (4000m and above) where
there is no forest cover, the Temperate
Zone falling between 2000 to 4000m with
conifer or broadleaf forests, and the
Subtropical Zone with Tropical or
Subtropical vegetation from an elevation
of 150m to 2000m. Forest types include
Fir Forests, Mixed Conifer Forest ; Blue
Pine Forest Chirpine Forest , Broadleaf
mixed with Conifer, Upland Hardwood
Forest , Lowland Hardwood Forest , and
Tropical Lowland Forests .
More than 60 percent of the endemic
plant species of the Eastern Himalayas
can be found within Bhutan.Of the 5,500
known species of vascular plants, 50 or
more are endemic to Bhutan itself.
Although a comprehensive description of
Bhutanese flora is yet to be formulated,
it is accepted that several species are
highly valuable for their conservation
properties. These include some for
alkaloids and medicinal properties, some
as wild gene pools for crop research,
and those that are potentials
horticultural crops.
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