Bhutanese celebrate Buddhist Tshechu festival with costumed, masked dances

Thousands of Bhutanese dressed in colorful dresses gather at TashichhoDzong Buddhist monastery in the kingdom's capital Thimphu, to celebrate Buddhist Tshechu festival held annually to honor Tibetan Buddhism and its lineage which is widely practised in Bhutan.

The festival starts off in the morning with prayers and ritual ceremony and climaxes in a traditional costumed, masked dances called Cham, where festival-goers gather to watch, socialise, and have lunch together.