10 Strange and Interesting Facts About Bhutanese Society That Might Surprise You

### **10 Strange and Interesting Facts About Bhutanese Society That Might Surprise You**

Deep in the eastern Himalayas, the Kingdom of Bhutan is often stereotypically romanticized as the final Shangri-La, a remote paradise of breathtaking mountains and monastic serenity. The image holds true to the landscapes, but hides a society that, in many ways, is radically unique and informed by a philosophy system nowhere else on Earth. Bhutan is an experiment in willed development where policy, religion, and day-to-day life come together in ways that can seem ridiculously anachronistic, counter-intuitive, or deeply mystifying to the outside world. To know Bhutan means to abandon rational thinking and step into a world where happiness is measured, nature is sacred, and tradition is preserved with loving care. Here are ten facts that reveal the quirky and interesting nature of Bhutanese culture.

**1. Gross National Happiness: The Ultimate National Performance Indicator**

The most well-known and quite unique aspect of Bhutan to the world is its reluctance to rely on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the indicator for progress and instead has adopted its own quirky benchmark: Gross National Happiness (GNH). Not a tacky, sentimental slogan but a real, quantifiable governmental metric used to gauge all policy and development programs.

The quirkiness lies in its tangible application. A new factory is not only evaluated on its productivity from an economic perspective; it's quantified on how it impacts psychological well-being, cultural heritage, environmental health, and effective governance—GNH's four pillars. If a project performs poorly on the GNH index, it can be revised or even rejected. This is derived from the belief that the true purpose of government is not to acquire wealth but to create the environment for happiness and spiritual satisfaction. In a world obsessed with economic development, Bhutan's steadfast commitment to this holistic, near-spiritual approach to governance is both strange and subversive.

**2. The Constitutional Mandate for Forest Cover**

In all other countries, environmental protection is a policy goal susceptible to political and economic fluctuations. In Bhutan, it is a constitutional *mandate*. The kingdom's constitution mandates a minimum of 60% of the total area of the country to be maintained under forest cover eternally.

It is not merely a legislative act; it is a reflection of deep Buddhist conviction in the interdependence of all life. Forests are seen as the home of gods and spirits, and their preservation is a divine act. This article in the constitution has made Bhutan one of the world's only carbon-negative countries, as it absorbs more carbon than it emits. The uniqueness lies in the unwavering, unrelenting nature of this vow, placing the purity of the environment alongside other fundamental constitutional principles such as sovereignty and justice. It is a commitment to the world at a national level, a commitment imprinted in the nation's supreme law.

**3. The National Dress Code: The Gho and Kira in Everyday Life**

Whereas other countries have official costume for ceremonial occasions, Bhutan stands alone in that national dress (*Gho* for males and *Kira* for women) is mandatory wear within all government offices, schools, and formal events. To see an entire population, from bureaucrats to students, in these fashionable, brightly colored attire is a striking and unusual sight for visitors.

It is a powerful instrument of cultural preservation, exercised through the state. In a more globalized world, it is a consistent, material reminder of a Bhutanese identity, keeping cultural homogenization at arm's length, common as this is among other developing nations. The *Gho* with its characteristic knee-length dress and folded pouch, and the *Kira*, the wrap-dress measuring from ankle to knee, are more than clothes; they are a national pride uniform and a sentry against encroachment of tradition.

**4. The Regulated Onslaught of Tourism: "High Value, Low Impact

Unlike its neighbors, which try to maximize the number of visitors, Bhutan has particularly chosen a policy of selectivity. For decades, the government remained staunchly committed to a "High Value, Low Impact" tourism policy, imposing on all visitors (with the exception of Indians, Bangladeshis, and Maldivians) a daily fee of several hundred dollars, including accommodation, transport, a guide, and an environmental development fee.

The uniqueness of this strategy is its explicit shunning of mass-tourism and its potential short-run benefits. Its purpose was to protect the environment and culture from being overrun and to generate revenue for the state. This resulted in a tourist experience that was elitist, crafted, and highly respectful of the local environment. Although the tariff system has been adjusted recently to attract more tourists, the underlying philosophy of managed, thoughtful tourism is still a fundamental belief, which makes Bhutan one of the most exclusive and best-run destinations in the world.

**5. The Lack of Traffic Lights**

There are no traffic lights of any kind in the capital, Thimphu. This is intentional. When one group was put up some years ago, people protested that the impersonal, mechanistic contraptions were not for Bhutan's culture. They dismantled them and replaced traffic police, who direct traffic with graceful, almost dance-like motion of their hand.

This seemingly insignificant detail is a powerful metaphor for the Bhutanese preference for the human touch over soulless mechanization. It reflects a culture concerned with beauty, convention, and the human touch, even on the most mundane aspects of modern life like traffic control. The image of a white-gloved officer refining the flow of vehicles at a main intersection is a quaint throwback that tells one a great deal about the national ethos.

**6. The Phallic Symbol: Keeping Evil at Bay with Male Anatomy**

One of the most bizarre and initial shocking experiences for visitors is the prevalence of enormous, brightly colored phalluses. They are painted on residential house walls, hung as wooden sculptures from eaves, and even grasped by clowns in religious festival parades. This is not a commentary on coarseness but a highly evolved cultural and religious heritage embracing the "Divine Madman," Drukpa Kunley, a 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist saint.

Drukpa Kunley practiced unorthodox pedagogy in spreading Buddhism, using songs, humor, and his "flaming thunderbolt of wisdom" (his phallus) to subdue demons and bless the faithful. The phallus is thus, therefore, a symbol of power, fertility, good fortune, and protection that could ward off the evil eye and ill speech. This frank and boisterous expression of male sexuality within a religious context is a strangely freeing and lovely aspect of Bhutanese culture.

**7. The Ban on Mountain Climbing**

In a country hemmed in by some of the world's highest and unclimbed mountains, there is banned the climbing of any mountain over 6,000 meters. It has been banned for two reasons: one religious, and one pragmatic.

First, the top mountains are sacred as the divine abodes of gods and protector spirits. To tread on their summits is thought to be an act of profound profanation. Second, the authorities prefer safety and the huge cost and risk of high-altitude rescue operations. This creates the strange fact of a nation that is a heaven for mountaineers but a purgatory for mountaineers, with the highest mountains to be admired and respected from a distance, not ascended.

**8. A Country Without a Single History of Its Own**

For a country so restively protective of its identity, one is astonished to learn that Bhutan possesses no unbroken, pre-modern written history of its own. A great deal of its early history is only known through the lens of its neighbors—primarily Tibetan and British colonial sources.

This is because the history of Bhutan was for the most part oral and passed down generations in the form of legends, songs, and religious texts. Only in the 20th century did its official history begin to be formalized. This deficiency has allowed a freedom of mythological versatility, such that the lines between historical reality and sacred legend are often skillfully blurred and merged, contributing to the mystique of the country.

**9. The State-Sponsored "Well-Being Curriculum

Bhutan's curriculum is gradually integrating a "Well-Being Curriculum," which is essentially a secular version of Buddhist compassion and mindfulness training. Meditation, mindfulness, and the principles of interdependence and compassion are imparted to kids.

Otherness, as perceived in the Western world, is that the state actively engages in encouraging emotional and spiritual development of people at a very young age. It is an applied practice of GNH with the goal of bringing up a generation that is not just intelligent but emotionally resilient, empathetic, and conscious of the environment. It gives equal importance to the inner world of the mind as it does to science and mathematics.

**10. The King Who Abdicated for Democracy**

In a supreme irony, the most and best-loved king in the modern world, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, took the unprecedented step of abdicating his throne in 2006. But that wasn't all: he also bequeathed a democratic constitution on a reluctant populace, who were afraid that democracy would bring divisive politics like those they witnessed in neighboring countries.

This move is almost unimaginable in the books of history, where power is rarely ever relinquished voluntarily. The King believed that for the ultimate well-being and stability of his people, a regime of balances and checks involving a system of democracy was preferable to a benevolent absolute monarchy. This selfless deed, one in which the health of the nation takes precedence over privilege of the crown, is the perfect application of a philosophy by which the welfare of the people is really the state's responsibility.

Lastly, Bhutanese culture is a fascinating and enriching experiment in placing consciousness over consumption, well-being before wealth, and the sacred over the superficial. These ten facts—from the constitutional forests and the happiness calculus to the protective phalluses and the abdicating king—aren't these oddities. They're components of a delicate interlocking system in an upper-class model built upon the pillars of Buddhist philosophy and a defiant commitment to a free national identity. To meet them is to see Bhutan not as a remote, nostalgic fairy tale, but as a brave and intriguing vision of what a modern society can choose to be.