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The Culture, Traditions, and Heritage of Bhutan

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Bhutan has managed to maintain a policy of isolationism or abstention from relations with other countries to protect it from outside cultural influences. Even if it allowed foreigners to visit the country in the later part of the 20th century or in 1960, the visitors were only in limited number. To further preserve the country’s rich and unique cultural heritage, the Menjong Chotun Tshogpa, a charitable institution, was established in 2002, primarily to safe-keep the indigenous teachings of the Buddha, which are the Bhutanese culture and traditions guarded for a long time.

Culturally, the Bhutanese people are closely related to the Tibetan people. In language, the Bhutanese monks use the variant of the Tibetan language known as Chhokey in reading and writing. With the Tibetans, they also revere religious teacher Padmasambhava, who was the 8th century founder of the Himalayan Buddhism. Their own religious practices include the installation of prayer flags on the hillsides to offer prayers for all sensitive human beings, or a white small flag on the roofs of houses to indicate that the house owner has offered payments to appease the god of the locality.

The Bhutanes law requires all citizens to wear the national dress as a formal wear in public places. This dress is called gho for men, which is robe (knee-length) tied at the waist by kera or cloth belt, and kira for women, which is an ankle-length dress fastened at one shoulder and at the waist. On birth names, the Bhutanese do not include a family name but two traditional favorable names selected at birth by the child’s parents or grandparents.