The crowd witnessing Ura Yakchoe, an age old festival of Ura in Bumthang, is visibly smaller this time. Rural-urban migration is being blamed for it.
Ura is home to over a thousand people, but there are only 200 of them living in the village today.
The rest has moved out in search better lives. This has thrown into question the future of traditional festivals like Ura Yakchoe.
“Only the elderly have stayed back and there are not many of them either,” Tshewang Jigme, former Ura Gup said.
“We don’t have many people left back to be part of the festival. All the galleries are empty. We only have children and old people just enough to run the errands and conduct the festival.”
Villagers like Tshewang Darjey hope the people will at least return home for the festival.
Of the 68 households in Ura, two have been declared gungtongs or empty households, and each household has only two or three of its members living in the village.
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