Paro Tsechu: Aikapur Ghos

At tsechu, it is not only the women showing off their finery, but the men parade some pretty special aikapur ghos.

These ones have supplementary weft designs between the stripes of (yellow and red) supplementary warp patterning. The wider the stripes, the more heddles the weaver juggles to create the pattern, and the more prestigious the fabric (see Aikapur Technique: Supplementary Warp).

The Bhutanese describe the width of these supplementary warp patterns in “legs” which are counted in the cross-hatched bars that run at right angles across the yellow and red stripes. So a 13-legged pattern is more prestigious than a 9-legged pattern.

Some Bhutanese describe all these designs as aikapur, and others say aikapur is only white and yellow designs on red ground, and specify other names, such as lungserma or mensi mathra for other colour combinations.

To enjoy the women’s outfits at this festival, see Paro Tsechu: Kushutara Kiras