Colors and Faces of Thimphu Tsechu

Gnome Poem: Haa Valley

I overheard an older gentleman telling a story about Haa. All the children throughout the region, he said, knew if they didn't eat a hearty dinner on the night before the festival, the elves would come and steal them away in the night. This is a very old wive's tale, he explains, "I grew up believing it was real too," though he never made any assurances that there was no threat of elves today.

So, a few weeks later when we boarded a bus heading west, I already had this image conjured in my mind of little people with felt hats poking their heads out from behind boulders and curtains of lichen.