Ceremonial shoulder cloth (rachu)

The red ceremonial shoulder cloth (rachu, or "small cloth"), an essential part of a traditional Bhutanese woman's outfit for special occasions, is similar to the long white raw silk scarf worn by Bhutanese men. The rachu is folded twice lengthwise then folded in half to bring the fringed ends together, and draped over the left shoulder. It is worn with the fringes in front, hanging down roughly to the wearer's waist level. When the woman bows to a superior, the fringes cover her hands.

Women wear rachu when visiting a fortress/monastery (dzong) and on other formal occasions. A woman holds the end of her scarf in front of her mouth when receiving blessings from a lama or speaking to a high official so she will not exhale her humble breath toward a superior. The fringed ends of this example each bear two rows of auspicious swastikas and a wide band of diamond patterns woven in the supplementary weft technique. While this technique resembles embroidery, it is in fact done on a loom, with extra pieces of thread woven in.