Celebrating the Thadingyut Festival of Light, which usually falls in mid-October at Shwedagon Pagoda.

Thingyan Water Festival

Thingyan, the traditional Myanmar water festival, is the most exciting and marvelous of all the annual celebrations.

Marking the coming of the Buddhist New Year, it falls in the middle of April and generally lasts for three days, although some years it lasts for four.

This stipulated time frame does not stop children in villages throughout the country from showering water on unwary travellers on trains or cars for days before the festival officially begins. And people in Mawlamyine and nearby villages in Mon State continue the festival for one day after the festival, which is the first day of Myanmar New Year. Those who want to celebrate for an extra day often travel there.

Nearly everyone in Myanmar partakes in the water festival in one way or another. This ranges from taking to the streets to get soaked with hoses and buckets of water, and to soak others in return; to participating in traditional group dances; to spending several days meditating in a monastery. The essence of the water festival is to wash away the defilements that one has committed during the previous year.

One of the most venerable pursuits during the festival is the novitiation of boys, in which parents send their male children to a monastery for a period of time to study the teachings of the Buddha. According to Buddhist beliefs, this is an auspicious way for parents and their young boys to gain great merit.

Taungpyone Nat Festival

Another famous festival is the nat, or spirit, festival held in the village of Taungpyone (about 20 kilometres north of Mandalay) during the six days leading up to the full moon of the lunar month of Wagaung, which falls in mid-August.

The Taungpyone festival is the most crowded of Myanmar’s many spirit celebrations. It attracts more than 300,000 people who come from across the country by boat, car and wagon to join the happy gathering of the 37 nats and give them offerings. There are also dramatic performances throughout the festival.

Phaung Daw U Pagoda Festival

Held at Inle Lake in Shan State and occurring during the month of October, this festival is popular among locals and tourists alike.

During the 20-day festival, a decorated royal barge carrying four of the five Buddha images from the nearby Phaung Daw U Pagoda is pulled around the lake in a clockwise direction by a number of leg rowers. It leaves from the town of Nyaungshwe and on the ensuing days passes from village to village, bestowing blessings on the monasteries at each settlement, before returning to its starting point.

There are also leg-rowing boat races throughout the festival that are fantastically entertaining to watch. In addition, visitors can enjoy shopping for traditional souvenirs from vendors around the pagoda.

Thadingyut Festival of Light

This three-day festival is held around the Full Moon Day of the lunar month of Thadingyut, which usually falls in mid-October.

These days and nights are marked throughout the country with the lighting of bright and colourful candles and paper lanterns, and the shining of electric bulbs, in houses, parks and street-side lampposts. Children in particular find the festival exciting, as they enjoy walking around holding paper lanterns.

The Festival of Light is for rejoicing as well as for paying respect: Young people show their gratitude to their elders – including parents, grandparents and teachers – by making rounds and offering them such delights as cakes, fruits and longyis. In return, the young people often receive pocket money from the older people.

Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda Festival

The mountaintop Golden Rock Pagoda in Mon State is the site of a special Festival of Lights celebration. Here the Full Moon Day of Thadingyut is marked by the lighting of 9000 candles and the offering of 9000 flowers to the Buddha, and on the next morning rice, sweets and snacks are also offered.

Many young people also visit the pagoda around the Buddhist New Year in April and around Christmastime. During these periods the pagoda platform, as well as the local hotels and restaurants, teems with devotees who sit to pay their respects and enjoy the peace of the cold, beautiful nights.

Tazaungdaing Festival

Celebrating Tazaungdaing Festival in Shan State's Taungyi with a brightly lit hot air balloon.

Another festival of lights, this one held around the Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone in November, Tazaungdaing is best experienced in the town Taunggyi in Shan State.

It is also known as the Hot Air Balloon Festival because it includes competitions for the construction of attractive handmade hot air balloons.

Locals make paper balloons in the form of elephants, ducks and other shapes according to their fancy, and then launch them into the sky. The spectacle attracts tourists from around Myanmar and from many foreign countries as well.

 

Manaw Festival

This is the New Year festival of the Kachin people, held in January and centred in the city of Myitkyina in Kachin State. The eight-day festival includes victory celebrations, housewarming parties, funeral rites and blessings of new farmlands for good luck. On the practical side, Kachin elders gather to draw plans for the coming year.

The events of the festival are based on honoring the Kachin heritage and traditions. Many of the Kachin people who migrated to other cities return to their hometowns to participate in the festival.

Naga New Year Festival

A Naga tribesman wearing the traditional dress.

Also held in January, this celebration rotates from year to year among the four townships in the Naga region – Layshi, Lahe, Khanti and Nanywun – which is located in the northwest corner of Myanmar, close to the Indian border.

In the coming year the festival will be held in Layshi township. The opening ceremony will be held on January 14, when the Naga people will erect the traditional festival post in the compound at which the festival is held.

The following day is the day when the real celebrations will occur, with feasts of rice wine, roasted bison and wild boar, and ritual dances accompanied by the playing of drums. People also celebrate ancient customs by dressing in traditional robes and wearing fantastic headdresses.

The closing ceremony will be held on the following day.