An affair between Brother and Sister that happened unknowingly had caused an inauspicious day in the Bhutanese calendar called "Ngyenpa Gu Zom" meaning meeting of nine evils.
Ngyenpa Gu Zom is considered by the Bhutanese to be the worst, most evil and inauspicious day of the year. It also remind that by observing this inauspicious day, any illegal relation between relatives is of evil nature which should be avoided by all means.
Ngenpa Gudzom is based on the lunar calendrical calculation and geomancy. The time of Ngenpa Gudzom coincides with the longest night of the year as it is the period of the malicious earth spirit Nyima Nagchen and eight other negative earth spirits. The belief in the many types of earth spirits (Sabda) is believed to have originated from the geomantic traditions passed through ancient China.
Legends has it that during the rise of the sentient beings in this world, an earth spirit Yadud Dorje and his wife Sasrin Barma had five children, four daughters and a son named Rahula. The siblings became separated over time, so much so that Rahula once travelled around Mount Meru and encountered one of his sisters but did not recognize her. As a result, they had an incestuous relationship on the 7th day of the 11th lunar month. The impurity of their incestuous relationship thus polluted the elements and the earth’s atmosphere, causing a myriad of evil things.
Every year this evil day fall on 7th day of the 11th Bhutanese month.
During this day we need to stay neutral and should refrain from either doing good or bad. The belief is that there will be no merit in any good deed done on this day. However, any bad deed will gain multiplied negative karma. It is believed that any job done on this day is not going to bear any fruit, and people should not venture long journey.
I saw lots of post in social media celebrating this day with extraordinarily spread of food. You are just promoting the evils.
It is also to be reminded that in Bhutan some marriages still take place between far relatives like Son/daughter of Uncle to Daughter/Son of Nephew and so on. Such undesirable relation will only bring evil atmosphere in the families and need to be stopped.
The day was granted Public holiday till 2007 and stopped thereafter. Good, there is no point in observing the evil day as Govt holiday.
Have a controlled evil day.
Phub Dorji Wang
