The festival takes place at Kurjey Temple, located at Kurjey in the Chokhor valley in Bumthang district.
The Kurjey festival is an important occasion as it brings people together and avails a perfect opportunity to receive blessings by witnessing age-old mask dances and to enjoy this unique culture, whilst basking in the natural beauty of Bhutan’s spiritual heartland.
The spiritual significance of the festival is enhanced by the sheer fact that the venue is associated with Guru Rimpoche, the saint who inspired the same masked dances in the 8th century.
Legend has it that the king of the day, Sindhu Raja invited Guru Rimpoche from Nepal to Bhutan to subdue some evil spirits that had been plaguing the land. After subduing the evil spirits and demons, imprints of the Guru’s body remained in the rock face. Thereafter, the name came to be known as Kurjey meaning - “Imprint of the body”. The Lhakhang is now a blessed site of great historical significance.
