Myanmar water festival (Thingyan)

Thingyan Festival also known as the Water Festival is the celebration which marks Myanmar’s New Year. It usually falls in the third part of April and the main feature is water throwing or water spraying or dousing on each other. Anyone can throw water to anyone whether they are friends or strangers. But splashing water at elderly people, pregnant women and sick people is not polite and people generally avoid doing that. And there are a lot of Sabbath keepers in Thingyan Festival and people avoid splashing water at them as way of paying respect to them.

Generally there are 3 fundamental believes about the Water Festival - we throw or pour water on each other to: 1) Wash away the impurities of the old year so as to not carry any negativities forward into the new year , 2) Ease the intense heat of April for people celebrating the new year, and 3) Just purely to have fun.

Before the water throwing fun begins, Buddhist people carry out an important ritual of “Bathing the Buddha”. In villages and towns, young people go the monasteries, temples and pagodas to clean all Buddha Images with scented water. During that time, monasteries, temples and pagodas are also cleaned by those groups at the same time. In our more modern societies (especially in the cities), people wash the Buddha images in the family shrine room with scented water. People generally start water throwing only after the 'Bathing the Buddha' ritual has completed. Throughout the cleaning ritual period, groups sing and dance happily to Thingyan Songs, whilst others who can’t resist the temptation of fun begin to throwing water at each other once outside the monasteries or pagodas on their way home.

There are food- donations during the Thingyan days with tradition Thingyan snacks: “Mont-Lone- Yay-Paw” and “Shwe-Yin Aye”. Young people also do good deeds such as bathing the elderly people, washing their hair and cutting their nails. And as it’s the longest national holiday which last for 10 days and it's the best chance for those who have to work or study away from home to go back home, it’s the best time for family reunions and gathering. And for those who stay at home, it's also the ideal time to enter into novitiation, joining meditation centers, etc.

In Yangon, people build water-throwing stages (pendals) at the side of the road for the purpose of throwing or spaying water at passersby wanting to join in the fun. To add to the celebrations, there are always live music entertainment by famous artists, where everyone dances their way on and off stage, or down the street with the continual water drenching fun. For those with cars, they drive around the city in their cars to receive the water-throwing going from one pendal to another. This is an all-day affair with a short break for lunch.

photo from google

Foreign visitors and expatriates can also join in the fun water festival activities and Myanmar people welcome and love to see foreigners enjoy their traditional festivals. In the past, we’ve seen expats going around the city in their cars, whilst some happily spray water from water-gun or pipes standing in the pandals. If you intend to go out into the festivals, it’s best you wear simple thin clothes as the heat can be intense and as water soaks your clothes, it can get heavy on your body.

The worst thing about the festival is the traffic jam and accidents caused by drunk drivers. So taking care of yourself while enjoying the festival is recommended. And you may need to make sure to keep your phones and cameras in waterproof cases.

Let’s welcome the happiest festival in Myanmar. Happy Thingyan!!!!!!!