Spider Hats of the Brokpa: Bhutan's Snowland Tribe
The Brokpa people (འབྲོག་པ།), whose name derives from "Drok" (nomadic) and "Pa" (people), mainly inhabit the villages of Merak (མེ་རག), meaning "Land of Fire," and Sakteng (སག་སྟེང་།), meaning "Land of Bamboo," in the Trashigang District (བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང་ཁག) of eastern Bhutan. Situated within Bhutan's Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Merak is home to this community. Photography by Daniel Miller ©iseo58.tumblr.com MYTHODEA ©Bhutan holiday trips ©Wiley Online Library.
Known as the legendary land of the Yeti, Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is rich in plant life and hosts rare wildlife, serving as the home of Bhutan's national flower, the blue poppy (Meconopsis Grandis). The Yeti (གཡའ་དྲེད།), called Megay or Migoi (མི་རྒོད།) in the Zhaba Tribe's language, is closely tied to their folklore. BBC News ©Anbarasan Ethirajan Snow Monster Land
In stories about the Yeti, Tibetan herdsmen who venture into remote mountains to search for their lost yaks often encounter the creature, according to many accounts. The Yeti is typically depicted with white or light red fur, a diet of bamboo shoots, and a pungent odor akin to garlic. The sanctuary itself is credited to ©The Traveller, with the name Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary serving as its official title.
Phurba Chitten Sherpa from Namche illustrated the Yeti that appears on Bhutanese postage stamps (©Daily Bhutan). In the outside world, beliefs and stories about the Yeti's origin vary, but among the Tibetan people, it has always been respected as their protective deity, possessing extraordinary powers and coexisting with the mountain gods.
As folklore has it, the events are set in Tsona, Tibet, where a king named Dreba-yabu ruled with great cruelty. His palace was situated in the shadow of a mountain to its east, so no direct sunlight ever reached it. Oral tradition recounts that in 1347, the Zhaba people rose up, beheaded the reigning tyrant Dreba-Yabu, and subsequently moved to eastern Bhutan, where their descendants have remained ever since. Merak Village ©sitheradventures
The king commanded his people to destroy the mountain in the village of Merak one early morning. When Aum Jumo (ཨ་མ་ཇོ་མོ།), the female mountain deity of the village, learned of this, she took the form of a woman carrying a baby and went to the peak that was destined for destruction. ©uncharted backpacker "It is easier to destroy a mountain than to behead a king," she declared. The villagers, who caught her voice, promptly put together an elaborate feast for the king. ©Merak Sakteng Culture མེ་རག་སག་སྟེང་ལམ་སྲོལ།
In 1347, guided by the mountain deity Aum Jumo, the great master Guru Jarepa crossed mountains and valleys to reach the eastern part of Bhutan. ©AJHEATH He was made to drink until he became intoxicated and was then assassinated. ©Bhutan holiday trips While fleeing, they divided into three groups. The first group settled in Sakteng Village, which takes its name from (sak: bamboo, ten: land), meaning "bamboo land". ©Bhutan Acorn The remaining two groups first settled in Lung Zempo for many years.
They eventually relocated to Sakteng, and from there they moved on to Merak, but the journey was so hard that only a small number survived the trip. Today, the ruins of the abandoned stone houses are still standing.
Located above the village is a Buddhist temple called Merak Lhakhang (མེ་རག་ལྷ་ཁང་།), which primarily worships the deity Aum Jumo. The village's name, meanwhile, traces back to the Zongka term "Methra," meaning "burn with fire," which gradually shifted into "Merak"—"me" for fire and "rak" for burn—so the place came to signify "land of fire." This name arose because the region was covered entirely by forest, and only a section could be burned down for constructing houses. A village stupa also stands there.
Because the high-altitude climate is too harsh for farming, the Drokpa people lead a semi-nomadic existence and depend mainly on herding livestock. ©AJHEATH During summer, they move with their cattle and sheep to pasture, then return to their stone houses in winter. Religious festivals are also held here, such as the well-known Ache Lhamo （ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོ།） mask dance and Yak （གཡག） dance. This site is Merak Lhakhang Temple. ©Andrew Studer
Most Drokpa people live in isolation from the outside world due to their remote geographic location. Their homes tend to be small and well-ventilated, designed to cope with the cold climate. ©AJHEATH Yaks play a vital role in Drokpa life. The people raise both yaks and sheep, with dairy products serving as their primary food source. Among these, yak cheese (Zotoe) is the most renowned and appears regularly on Drokpa dining tables. ©uncharted backpacker Polyandry
The Zhuba people have been able to maintain a range of distinctive traditions and customs up to the present day, largely thanks to their isolation, which is only penetrable after multiple days of arduous hiking. ©uncharted backpacker To begin with, their language is a distinct dialect, a southern Tibetan tongue referred to as Brokpa or MiraSagteng. Their attire also sets them apart, diverging from the typical Kira and Gho. Specifically, men don a tshokan chuba—a heavy red woolen coat—and layer a kanjur crafted from cowhide or deerskin over it.
©AJHEATH The principal garment of the Drokpa people is the hat, called tsipee cham, Shamo, or rtsidpa zhamo (རྩིད་པའི་ཞྭ་མོ། Yak wool felt hat). This black yak-wool hat is shaped like a spider and resembles a French beret. ©AJHEATH Meanwhile, the woman wears a shingkha, a red and white striped dress, decorated with amber, gold, and silver accessories, and bearing colorful woven or embroidered patterns on both sides.
©insidehimalayas Around the hat are five twisted tassels, each extending downward in a different direction. They are long like braids and look like spider legs, but are actually made of yak wool. ©Clare Rowntree These "hat beards" prove highly practical because, functioning like a faucet, they direct rainwater away from the face, neck, and body. Hence, when it rains, wearing this hat makes it easier to stay dry and keep working.
©AJHEATH A high-quality handmade silk wedding dress can cost around $1000, which is frequently a huge expense for an average Bhutanese family. Tour guides often joke that Bhutanese men all desire to marry women from eastern Bhutan because these women are able to weave their own clothes. ©insidehimalayas The weaving skills of women from this region are well-known. ©AJHEATH This type of hat is worn by both men and women, and women in every household can make and produce it themselves.
Within each colorful weaving lies the elegance and beauty of Drokpa women, who occupy an important position in the family. ©Heavenly Bhutan Travels ©tessabunney Image Source: https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/16524/BT https://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/wandershopper/2013/02/15/if-bhutan-hosted-fashion-week/ https://www.insidehimalayas.com/the-brokpa-people-of-bhutan/ https://px3.fr/winners/px3/2019/10624/ https://www.dorteverner.com/gallery.html
Yangmo Tashi's blog was the origin of this translated piece. https://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/debbysdepar https://matadornetwork.com/read/end-road-changing-lives-bhutans-yak-herders/ http://www.tessabunney.co.uk/explorations/bhutan/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailybhutan.com/amp/tribes-of-bhutan-the-brokpas https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailybhutan.com/amp/the-fascinating-brokpas-of-bhutan https://www.youraudiotour.com/tours/1586/stops/7932 https://www.junglesinparis.com/stories/how-herders-in-eastern-bhutan-rely-on-their-mountain-livestock https://denkarsgetaway.com/merak-the-only-itinerary-you-need-to-see-everything-is-merak-in-3-days/ https://www.unchartedbackpacker.com/valley-yeti-merak-bhutan/ https://www.bhutanholidaytrips.com/blogs/merak-the-land-of-reds/