Aulé (ཨའུ་ལེགས་) is a local festival observed every year in Laya, a remote community in northern Bhutan. It takes place on the 15^th day of the 9^th lunar month of the Bhutanese calendar. The festival primarily commemorates the arrival of the founder of Bhutan, Zhapdrung Ngakwang Namgyel (1594-1651), in Laya in 1616 on his way from Tibet via Wakey La pass to the main western valleys of Bhutan. The festival includes singing a poetic composition that heralds the loyalty and respect that local Layaps showed to Zhapdrung Ngakwang Namgyel on his journey.

When Zhapdrung crossed over the pass, the people of Laya welcomed him with barley and in return, he prayed they would receive timely rain, an abundant harvest, and flourishing cattle. Every year after the harvest, the Layaps commemorate this event as an act of gratitude and supplication for continuous prosperity. On the 15^th day, a statue of Zhapdrung is brought out of Tashichöling Temple and each household offers three measures of grains as offering. Purificatory sang offerings are made to the local deities, and lead singers chant verses starting with the words “Aulé! Aulé!” to which other men reply “Legs so! Legs so!”

There are eleven chapters to the Aulé song of Laya. The first chapter begins with the singers assembled at the door of the house they visit. The words describe the time and the entrance of the house. In the second chapter, the words describe the door, latches and stairs of the house as the singers climb the steps to enter the house. The third chapter extols the fireplace and the cooking utensils as the host prepares the drinks and snacks. The fourth and fifth chapters praise the dairy products from livestock. In the sixth chapter, holding a statue of Zhapdrung, they chant eulogies of Zhapdrung, which begin with the verse:

ལྷོ་འབྲུག་པའི་ངག་དབང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་འདི། །སྐུ་འཁྲུངས་པ་བོད་པའི་གཡུས་ལུ་འཁྲུངས། །

བོད་བསམ་སྦྱོར་ལེགས་ཏེ་ལྷོ་ལུ་བཏང་། །ལྷོ་དད་སྐལ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཕྱག་ཕྱིད་ཞུས། །

Ngakwang Namgyel of Bhutan in the south

Took birth in a Tibetan village.

The Tibetans with good intention sent him south.

The fortunate faithful southerners served him well.

The seventh chapter describes Zhapdrung's activities of subjugation in the four directions and mention some of his building projects, including dzongs. The eight chapter narrates an archaic origin myth. In the ninth chapter, dancers hold the offering and chant verses of offering to the divinities inhabiting the celestial, terrestrial and subterranean worlds. The tenth and eleventh chapters deal with benediction and prayers for prosperity as the visitors leave the house to move to another house.

The procession visits every household in the Laya villages. The purpose of the festival is to prevent sickness, bring forth good crops, and protect the livestock from predators such as bears, tigers, and snow leopards. As part of the ritual, groups of young men and young visit the houses of the five villages of Laya at night in turn and in a specific order. The men sing Aulé and dance in each household where they are offered ample drinks and snacks. This is considered as a symbol of prosperity. The young women wrapped in their black cloaks, their face covered, follow the men. It is said that this is an incognito way for young Laya women to survey the wealth of their prospective spouses, most visible in they way Laya households proudly store their wealth in the form of rice bags and blankets stacked along the walls. At the conclusion of formal events, they have a grand archery match between the two parts of Laya.

Sonam Chophel and Karma Phuntsho. Sonam Chophel was a researcher at Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research and 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.