Night Hunting

Last night I was invited to drinks by Cathy Harris, the honorary consul of Bhutan to Australia. Although I didn’t really get to meet Cathy, I met a number of interesting people. One was Chimi who works for Respecting, Educating, Nurturing and Enabling Women, RENEW. We talked about the good work they do in helping women who are poor or disabled, but I was surprised when she said that one of the main reasons the group was originally created was because of night hunting.

Night hunting is the tradition of Bhutanese men to climb in the windows of girl’s bedrooms (often shared with the rest of the family) to sleep with them. The tradition said that if he was still there in the morning, the couple were married. I had thought that it was at least the equivalent of our ‘one night stand’ with both parties giving consent. Hodor, from the Dagala trek, told me it was more than that and that the man would have to spend many nights wooing the girl before she’d invite him in.

But apparently, when one of the queens was touring the country, she was approached by many women complaining about what was, in effect, rape. These women had little say in what happened and are burdened with the resulting baby. The queen decided to do something about it and started RENEW. The practice may soon become illegal. It would be sad to see a tradition that has served for both people’s pleasure and as the courtship / marriage process be thrown away, but if it’s being abused and the people want change, it’s for the best.