How festival dates are set

Why the dates move

A festival set by a lunar date can fall on different Gregorian dates in different years. A lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar do not advance together.

Bhutan uses a form of the Tibetan calendar. Each lunar month is divided into thirty lunar days, and a numbered day can be skipped or repeated. Leap months also occur. Shifting last year’s date by a set number of days is not reliable.

The tenth day

The word tshechu (“tenth”) refers to the tenth day of the lunar month, a day of religious significance. According to tradition, Guru Rinpoche promised to return on the tenth day of each Bhutanese lunar month.

Each festival keeps its own days

The word tshechu does not fix a festival’s start day. Paro Tshechu is held on the eleventh to fifteenth days of the second Bhutanese month. Haa Tshechu is held on the eighth to tenth days of the ninth month. Nabji Lhakhang Drup runs from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the eleventh month. Ura Yakchoe is reported to begin on the twelfth day of the third month.

Not every date moves

Not every festival follows a moving lunar date. App Chundu Lhasel in Haa has had a fixed date, 1 November, since 2023. The word tshechu in a festival’s name does not mean its date moves.

Who publishes the calendar

ABTO, the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators, publishes the tentative festival calendar. Its dates are a tentative schedule, not a guarantee. ABTO’s festival page offers the calendar as a download.

The dates on this site

We show the dates from the newest tentative festival calendar that lists the festival for each year. Every date on this site is tentative. We do not show dates that are already over.

When a festival has no dates still to come, we show the month it usually falls in, as “Usually in April”.

Before you book travel around a festival, check its dates with the organiser or the dzongkhag (district) administration.

The 2027 calendar reaches into 2028

The 2027 tentative festival calendar places four festivals, Nabji Lhakhang Drup among them, in January 2028.