Monday 30 October 2017

Are These Hobbit Holes?

Are these curious structures Hobbit-holes, otherwise called Smials?


They were holes dug into the hill side, usually having a minimum of one round window and front door and sometimes back door. On the other hand, the poor lived in basic burrows with perhaps only a single window. Are these then the burrows of poor Hobbits?

Well no, they are in fact meditation caves tucked into the hills just above Dochula pass in Bhutan. These tiny, open-faced caverns are built from stone and painted in colourful detail with Buddhist symbolism. The druk, or dragon—Bhutan’s long-time national symbol and spirit animal—stretches over the cave entrance, bringing good luck and good tidings (unlike the dragons in Middle Earth!).

For comparison, here is a Hobbit house...............



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