The pholha (ཕོ་ལྷ་) ritual is seasonal ceremony observed in many parts of Bhutan in order to propitiate a male guardian deity. The identity of the guardian deity varies from region to region, as do the rituals of propitiation. In Ura village in central Bhutan, the pholha ritual is generally observed in early winter, and is essentially an offering ritual made to the guardian deity. Rather than a grand public event, the ritual is conducted in individual households.

Origin

Many villages and communities have local guardian deities who are referred to as pholha, which literally means ‘male god’. The pholha protect the area under their control, and often a certain part of the valley is protected as the domain of the pholha. For instance, the most pristine part of the forest in Shingnyer village is the area considered their pholha’s citadel. However, the pholha propitiated in Ura in early winter is not a local deity of the valley; rather, the pholha propitiated in this ritual by many Ura households is the draktsen (བྲག་བཙན་), or tsen spirit of the cliff of Tshampa, a border trade post between Tibet and Bhutan. Men departing the village first make offerings to this deity before they carry out their trade in order to seek the protection and favour of the pholha deity of Tshampa. Traditionally, the ceremony is held on the 8^th day of 10^th lunar month because the traders generally take part in the trade fair held on the 15^th day of the 10^th lunar month. Not all households propitiate draktsen, however; some families propitiate other deities such as Horpey Jangrey of Purshey or Kebulungtsen of Chokhor.

Procedures of the Ritual

The day before the ritual, a man or woman from each household carries a packed lunch with them and journeys to the thick juniper forest at the upper reaches of the valley. They first fell a young juniper tree of about two to three metres height. Then they cut off the branches and strip the bark from the lower half the trunk while keeping the foliage on the upper half intact, giving the tree a conical shape. (Some households use fir trees collected from another side of the valley and also hoist it at a different time of year.) On their way back, the collectors enter the bamboo thickets in the middle of the valley, where they cut down a slender tall bamboo roughly the same height as the juniper. Just like the juniper tree, the branches of the lower part of the bamboo are neatly sliced off. The bamboo is then stuck to the juniper and both trees are washed in a spring so as to be cleansed of any impurities. A small piece of white cloth or a tussle of white wool is attached to the bamboo. The vessels that will be used to present serving offerings are also washed in a clean spring later that day.

Around twilight, a male member of the household, who is competent to chant the verses of pholha, pulls the juniper and bamboo ‘flag’ from behind the house, using a rope to bring it to the roof. Billowing sang (བསང་) offerings are simultaneously made behind the house. The male member, in formal dress with kabné scarves, hoists the flag on the top of the roof using a permanent base that is kept there for just such purposes. Having hoisted the flag, he makes three prostrations and then chants the verses:

ཨོ་ཧོ་ཧོའི། ཨོ་ཧོ་ཧོའི།

ཕོ་ལྷ་ཆེན་པོ། མཚམས་པའི་བྲག་བཙན་དམར་པོ།

དུས་ད་ནིང་མཚམས་ནེང་མ་སྔས་པ། དུས་ན་ནིང་མཚམས་ནེང་མ་པིས་བ།

གོས་ཀྱི་དྲོས། ཟས་ཀྱི་བཅུད། མིའི་ཚེ། ནོར་རའི་གཡང་བསྣམས་ཟེ།

ཡམ་བ་སྔ་ཟི་གསོལ་བ་ན་བྱོན་ལོ། །

Oho hoi, Oho hoi,

The great pholha

The draktsen of Tsampa

Is it not too early considering this year?

Is it not too late considering last year?

Bringing the warmth of clothes

The nutrition of food

The longevity of human life

And the essence of wealth

Please come to lunch tomorrow!

In the evening, the woman of the house prepares food and drinks. Early in the morning, a table is arranged in the attic of the house and covered with various offerings of food and drink. A special dish, bramné, is prepared for this propitiation ritual. To make it, roasted barley flour is cooked in boiling water and mashed to make dough. The cooked dough is then flattened on a plate as if making a pizza. Garlic, chillies, onions, eggs and other spices are then deep fried in butter in a separate pan before being poured on the flattened dough. This dish is an essential part of the pholha offering.

The family members gather to eat a hearty breakfast, including the bramné, as part of the festive event. If the family did not have a man available to perform the ritual, someone from another house is asked to perform it on their behalf. He is then invited the following morning to come and have a meal. In modern times, as the trade mart in Tshampa no longer exists, and with younger Bhutanese taking little interest in such rituals and beliefs, the people of Ura have generally stopped observing the pholha ritual.

Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan.