Jakar tshechu, Shawa Shachhi, the dance of the Stag and the Hunting Dogs, stag

The Dance of the Stag and the Hunting Dogs (Shawa Shachhi) depicts the conversion to Buddhism of a hunter named Gonpo Dorje by the great saint Milarepa (1040–1123). This dance is more like a theatrical play than any of the other dances.

The story goes that while the saint Milarepa was meditating in a cave, he heard shouting and barking. He came out of his retreat and saw a stag covered with sweat and trembling with fear. Milarepa calmed it by singing a religious hymn and took it under his protection. Soon afterwards two dogs appeared which had been chasing the stag, and Milarepa won them over with one of his songs.

The hunter arrived unexpectedly, looking for his dogs, and when he saw them lying down with the stag at Milarepa’s feet, he flew into a rage and shot a poisoned arrow at the saint. The saint used his superhuman powers to snap the hunter’s bow, while the arrow, instead of hitting him, returned to the astonished hunter. Milarepa then intoned a song that succeeded in convincing the hunter to give up hunting and take up Buddhism.

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)