Choeshey Chham

Choeshey (Religious song)

Performed to commemorate the opening of Tsangpa Garey (1161-1211), founderof the Drukpa School, of the gateway for pilgrimages to Tsari Mountain in Eastern Tibet.

Costume: Very similar to the Guitar Dance. Elaborate and heavy woolen clothes, long black skirt. Folded brown coat, felt boots, a circular headdress and a sword.

When Tsangpa Garey arrived in Tsari, a frog, which was the guardian deity of the lake of Turquoises, turned itself into a yak and prevented him from going further. When his three religious friends arrived at this place, they asked the best way to remove this obstacle. Tsangpa Garey jumped on the frog, performed a dance and said, “If anybody wants to compare himself to me, the son of the glorious Drukpa lineage, let him come”. Then the frog changed into a rock as if it were a mud. Thus, the frog was subdued. It offered him his life force and he accepted. Then after establishing the frog as the guardian deity of the place, he opened the gateway to pilgrimage. All the believers undertake pilgrimage to Tsari even today and it is believed that a visit to this site gives one perfect happiness.