Daily Life

Daily life in Bhutan moves to the rhythm of the seasons, the Buddhist calendar and the family. Even in Thimphu, with its cafés and traffic police, you will see people circling a chorten at dawn, turning prayer wheels and stopping to greet neighbours by name.

Home and family

A traditional farmhouse is a large, two- or three-storey building of rammed earth or stone with a timber frame, painted window frames and a roof that once was weighted with stones. Livestock and storage occupy the ground floor, the family lives above, and the finest room is the choesham, the altar room for prayers and offerings. Extended families often live together, and in many western and central communities land and houses have traditionally passed through the daughters.

Names

Most Bhutanese do not use family names. A lama or astrologer often chooses a child’s name, and many names are shared by men and women alike, such as Pema, Karma, Dorji or Sonam. The royal family is the main exception.

Dress and etiquette

Men wear the gho, a knee-length robe tied with a belt, and women wear the kira, an ankle-length wrapped dress, with a short jacket called a tego. National dress is required in government offices, schools and dzongs. On formal occasions men add a ceremonial scarf, the kabney, whose colour indicates rank, and women wear a narrower rachu over the shoulder. This etiquette, known as driglam namzha, also guides how people greet, sit, eat and offer gifts.

Food

Meals centre on rice, often the nutty red rice of the Paro valley, served with vegetables, meat and chillies, which are treated as a vegetable rather than a spice. The national dish, ema datshi, is chillies cooked in a local cheese sauce. Other favourites include momos (dumplings), kewa datshi (potatoes and cheese), buckwheat noodles and pancakes in Bumthang, suja (salted butter tea) and the home-distilled spirit ara. Chewing doma, betel nut with lime wrapped in a leaf, is a widespread social custom.

Faith in everyday life

Prayer flags flutter on ridges and bridges, sending blessings with the wind. Families light butter lamps, make water offerings at the altar and invite monks to perform rituals for births, illness, new homes and deaths. Auspicious days from the lunar calendar guide when to travel, marry or start building.

Work and leisure

Many families still farm, growing rice, maize, potatoes and chillies and keeping cattle, while a growing number work in the civil service, hydropower, tourism and business. Weekends often mean archery, the national sport, played with loud singing, dancing and teasing of the opposing team. Darts (khuru), football and basketball are also popular.

To experience everyday Bhutan for yourself, ask us about farmstays and village walks.