Myanmar New Year Festival

Thingyan, Myanmar Water Festival

                   Thingyan, Myanmar Water Festival, takes place toward the end of the hot, dry season and ushers in the Myanmar New Year. This festival is also celebrated in neighboring Theravada Buddhist countries; Songkranin Thailand and Laos,Chaul Chnam Thmeyin Cambodia.

                 The festival lasts three or five days. Standing on bamboo stages erected along the streets, people splash water on passersby. Powerful water pipes douse people driving by in jeeps and trucks.

                   Children use water pistols to drench their friends, relatives, and anyone else in range - only monks and the elderly are safe.

                 The water symbolizes the washing away of the previous year's bad luck and sins. On New Year's Day itself, all the water-throwing ends. This day is celebrated by releasing captive fish and birds as acts of merit, and special feasts are held for monks.

THINGYAN WATER FESTIVAL Throughout Myanmar

Apr. 13 - 16, 2012
The Burmese New Year will be celebrated in April and everybody joins in the fun of dousing each other with water. Youths go out for the enjoyment, while elder people take retreat in monasteries and pagodas to perform meritorious deeds. One cannot avoid of getting very wet because everyone throws water at everybody. People drive through the city in open cars and there are stages along the street where people throw water. During this time, everything is closed: restaurants, shops, markets, Museum, etc.