Bhutan's National Symbols

National Flag

The National flag is in rectangle in shape that is divided into two parts diagonally. The upper yellow half signifies the secular power and authority of the king while the lower saffron-orange symbolizes the practice of religion and power of Buddhism, manifested in the tradition of Drukpa Kagyu.The dragon signifies the name and the purity of the country while the jewels in its claws stand for the wealth and perfection of the country.

National Emblem

The National emblem of Bhutan is a circle that projects a double diamond thunderbolt placed above the lotus. There is a jewel on all sides with two dragons on vertical sides. The Thunderbolts represent the harmony between secular and religious power while the lotus symbolizes purity. The jewels signify the sovereign power while the dragons male and female stands for the name of the country Druk Yul or the Land of the Dragon.

National Language

The national language is Dzongkha, the native language of the Ngalops of western Bhutan. Dzongkha literally means the language spoken in the Dzongs, massive fortresses that serve as the administrative centers and monasteries.

Example of Dzongkha Literature

གསལ་བྱེད་གསུམ་བཅུ།

(Dzongkha alphabets)

༉ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང།ཅ་ཆ་ཇ་ཉ།ཏ་ཐ་ད་ན།པ་ཕ་བ་མ། ཙ་ཚ་ཛ་ཝ།ཞ་ཟ་འ་ཡ།ར་ལ་ཤ་ས།ཧ་ཨ།།

National Day

The National Day of Bhutan is December 17. The date marks the coronation of Ugyen Wangchuck as the first Druk Gyalpo of modern Bhutan.

National Anthem

Druk Tsendhen ("The Thunder Dragon Kingdom") is the national anthem of Bhutan. Adopted in 1953, music is by Aku Tongmi and the words are written by Dasho Gyaldun Thinley

རྒྱལལ་པོའི་བརྟན་བཞུགས།


༉ འབྲུག་ཙན་དོན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་།།


དཔལ་ལུགས་གཉིས་བསྟན་སྲིད་སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན།།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།།


སྐུ་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟན་ཅིང་ཆབ་སྲིད་འཕེལ།།

ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས།།


འབངས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བར་ཤོག།།

The Thunder Dragon Kingdom

In the Thunder Dragon Kingdom,

where cypresses grow

Refuge of the glorious monastic and civil traditions,

The King od Druk, precious sovereign,

His being is eternal, his reign prosperous

The enlightenment teachings thrive and flourish

May the people shine like the sun of peace and happiness!

National Dress

The national dress of Bhutan is Gho and Kira. However, across the country clothing differs from one place to another. Men wear the Gho, a knee-length robe tied at the waist by a traditional belt known as Kera. The pouch which forms at the front traditionally was used for carrying food bowls and a small dagger. Today however with time, it is more accustomed to carrying small articles such as wallets, mobile phones and Doma (beetle nut). Women wear the Kira, a long, ankle-length dress accompanied by a light outer jacket known as a Tego with an inner layer known as a Wonju. Bhutanese still wear long scarves when visiting Dzongs and other administrative centers. The scarves worn vary in colour, signifying the wearer’s status or rank. The scarf worn by men is known as Kabney while those worn by women are known as Rachus. The Rachu is hung over a woman’s shoulder and unlike the scarves worn by men, does not have any specific rank associated with its color. Rachus are usually woven out of raw silk and embroidered with beautiful rich patterns.

Kabney/Scarf - Rank

The King - Yellow
Je Khenpo - (Head Abbot) Yellow
Minister - Orange Judge - Green

District Administrator - Red with a small white stripe

Commoner - White

National Animal

The national animal is the Takin (Burdorcastaxicolor) that is associated with religious history and mythology. It is a very rare mammal with a thick neck and short muscular legs. It lives in groups and is found above 4000 meters on the north-western and far north eastern parts of the country. They feed on bamboo. The adult Takin can weigh over 200 kgs.

National Bird

The national bird is the raven. It adorns the royal crown. The raven represents the deity Gonpo Jarodongchen (raven headed Mahakala), one of the chief guardian deities of Bhutan.

National Tree

The national tree is the cypress (Cupressustorolusa). Cypresses are found in abundance and one may notice large cypresses near temples and monasteries. This tree is found in the temperate climate zone, between 1800 and 3500 meters above the sea level.

National Flower

The national flower is the Blue Poppy (Meconopsis Grandis). It is a delicate blue or purple tinged blossom with a white filament. It grows to a height of 1 meter, and is found above the tree line (3500 - 4500 meters) on rocky mountain terrain. It was discovered in 1933 by a British Botanist, George Sherriff in a remote part of Sakteng in eastern Bhutan.

National Butterfly

Ludlow’s Bhutan Swallowtail which is found only in Bhutan is declared by the Cabinet as the National Butterfly of Bhutan. The Ludlow’s Swallowtail butterflies are found in Tobrang, a remote part of the Bumdelling Wildlife Sanctuary, Trashiyangtse, in the eastern region of the country.

National Sport

The national sport is the Archery (Dha). The bow and arrow play a significant role in many Bhutanese myths and legends; images of the gods holding a bow and arrows are considered especially favorable. Archery was declared the national sport in 1971 when Bhutan became a member of the United Nations. Archery is played during religious and secular public holidays in Bhutan, local festivals (Tshechu), between public ministries and departments, and between the dzongkhag and the regional teams.

Address

Bhutan Tigris Tours & Treks
Twins Building, Babesa Express Highway, Thimphu, Bhutan

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