It has finally arrived the time I post here a series about countries as birds. Birdified countries that interact with each other but I don't want to show them in a always stereotyped way (like Hetalia or countryballs but I admit I love countryballs XD) so their personalities are based mainly on their history, culture, society and economy. This is why I am taking so much time at fleshing their personalities because I am literally studying their history XD

The name of the series was given by my great friend HYPE and you can already notice how it was influenced partially by countryballs and my love for birds. And this brings to the fore the two main source of inspiration for this series:

Sweden and The World comic and Countryballs.

Bhutan's national bird is the common raven, the subspecies Corvus corax tibetanus more precisely, and I find this fascinating because, asides from Isle of Man CoA, I have not seen any other nation using a corvid as national bird. The raven represents the deity Gonpo Jarodongchen, the raven-headed Mahakala, one of the country's chief guardian deities. It also ornaments the royal crown. This is one of the reasons I love Bhutan so much as country. When I first made this character I didn't have a name in mind but now I found it and you can see it both in the title of this artwork and on the artwork itself: Dorji which means Thunderbolt (Vajra in Sanskrit).

I think the name fits nicely since Bhutan's official name has been Druk yul (literally, "country of the Drukpa Lineage" or "the Land of the Thunder Dragon," a reference to the country's dominant Buddhist sect).

He is one of few characters wearing a clothing and I chose the distinctive Bhutanese dress worn by men, the Ngalop clothing, the gho. The red scarf is the kabney. The use of gho and kabney is encouraged in Bhutan as a part of driglam namzha, the official code of etiquette and dress code of Bhutan. The rank and social class of the bearer determines the permissible color of the scarf. Colors are saffron, orange, red, green, blue, white with red stripes, and white.

I opted for red for two reasons: the color stands out nicely the black plumage and it is used for Dashos male members of the royal family and higher officials. Considering it is the ornament of the royal crown it fits perfectly.

Here a nice collection of Bhutanese traditional songs:

Credit:

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