Our next stop on this day was a small temple to observe a ceremony to give children a long life. Our guide knew where this was being held and we went to see it. They seemed to be pretty big on both tradition and ceremonies in Bhutan and we were told that this ceremony is an important one. Our guide said that ‘life expectancy’ in Bhutan is something like 53 years, so I can see why this might be an important ceremony for children. I was a little surprised by the crowds as I had expected a smaller ceremony. You can see a couple of photos below from before the start of the ceremony. The ceremony was held in an interior courtyard area of the temple.

What we saw at the ceremony was mostly clowns dancing. The clowns included one with a big red mask with a big red nose. He also had a big red wooden penis in his hand most of the time and would stick in very embarrassing places on the other clowns and people in the audience. I never caught the significance. We saw masks like the big red nosed mask being sold in stores and also saw pictures in stores. I think that the figures represent something like the reincarnations of Buddha. I’m not sure that Buddha would approve. The main clown was in the center of the first photo below, with his back to the camera. If you look carefully, you can also see him in action in the third photo below as well.

As we were leaving this ceremony, we passed the (4th) Queen of Bhutan. (note: the 4th King of Bhutan had four wives, hence four queens) She was very friendly and spoke to us for several minutes. She asked several of us where we were from and how long we had been in Bhutan and how we liked it so far and how long we were staying in Bhutan. Her guards asked us to not take any pictures of her, so we didn’t. It was so odd to just run across the Queen at a simple ceremony in a small temple and to have a conversation with her. I instantly liked her and became a fan. I also understand she is on Facebook.