There are however, a few practicalities to consider as the country basically goes on hold for three days. While April is good overall for finding accommodation, the Thingyan Festival is a national holiday, so places get booked up quickly during this time — book your stay in advance to guarantee a hotel, guesthouse or hostel where you want.
Do be prepared to chat to the locals. Which leads nicely on to the final point: be prepared to get very, very wet! We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements. To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK".
Sign Up. Travel Guides. When night falls on Thingyan eve the fun begins in anticipation of the water festival. Festively names stages mandate made from bamboo, wood and beautifully decorated papier mache spring up overnight.
Local women sing and dance in chorus lines uniformly dressed in traditional outfits. Elaborately lit and decorated Floats carry orchestras and young men about the streets stopping at every mandate exchanging original and classic songs specially written for the festival. They also perform than gyat, which is similar to rapping with one man leading and the rest following lamenting the hardships of life and social inequality.
Most girls wear fragrant thanaka — a paste of the ground bark of Murraya paniculata which acts as both sunblock and astringent — on their faces and sweet-scented yellow padauk blossoms in their hairs. Large crowds on foot, bicycle, motorbikes and in open-top vehicles do the rounds of all the mandate.
There are inevitably incidents due to drunk and over exuberant revelers. Generally, however the atmosphere is friendly even if boisterous. On a-kya nei after the cannon sounds the serious water throwing starts — Apart from in Yangon where the water throwing might have already started! However, in major cities such as Yangon the soaking is more bullish with garden hoses, water pistols and even fire hoses being employed! Everyone is fair game except monks and pregnant women.
The mandats are lined with partygoers who fire water from hoses at the throngs of revelers and passing floats. The odd prankster might use ice water or implement a drive-by splash. All able-bodied individuals are included in this game, except for monks.
Some overenthusiastic young lads may get captured by women, who often are their main target, and become kids of a practical joke with soot from cooking pots smeared on their faces. Maidens from mandats with dozens of garden hoses exchange hundreds of gallons of water with throngs of revelers and one float after another. Many travelers carry towels to block water from getting into the ears and for modesty as they get thoroughly soaked in their light summer clothes. The odd prankster might use ice water and a drive-by splash with this would be taken humorously.
During the Water Festival, the Myanmar government relaxes restrictions on gatherings. Temporary water-spraying stations, known as pandals, are set up and double as dance floors. Many of these pavilions are sponsored by rich and powerful families and businesses. The third day is known as a-kyat nei and there may be two of them, as an extra day is added in certain years. The fourth day is known as a-tet nei when Thagya Min returns to the heavens, the last day of the water festival.
Some would throw water at people late into the day making an excuse such as "Thagya Min left his pipe and has come back for it"!
Over the long festive holiday, a time-honoured tradition is mont lone yay baw, glutinous rice balls with jaggery palm sugar inside thrown into boiling water in a huge wok and served as soon as they resurface which gave it the name.
Young men and women help in making it and all are welcome, some have put a bird-eyes chili inside instead of jaggery as a trick. Mont let saung is another Thingyan snack, made of bits of sticky rice with toasted sesame in jaggery syrup and coconut milk. They are both served with grated coconut. In major cities such as Yangon and Mandalay, Rakhine Thingyan can also be experienced as Rakhine residents of the city celebrate in their own tradition.
Water is scooped from a long boat laung hlei to throw at revellers and Rakhine Mont di is served. The following is New Year's Day hnit hsan ta yet nei.
At this time Burmese visit elders and pay obeisance by gadaw also called shihko with a traditional offering of water in a terracotta pot and shampoo. Young people perform hairwashing for the elderly often in the traditional manner with shampoo beans Acacia rugata and bark. New year's resolutions are made, generally in the mending of ways and doing meritorious deeds for their karma. Thingyan a-hka dwin is also a common time for shinbyu, novitiation ceremonies for boys in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism when they will join the monks Sangha and spend a short time in a monastery immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma.
It is akin to rites of passage or coming of age ceremonies in other religions. On New Year's Day, people offer food donations called satuditha at various places. They typically provide free food to those participating in the new year's celebrations. Over Thingyan a tradition is to cook Mont Lone Yeibaw, glutinous rice balls with jaggery Palm sugar inside. The whole community helps cook it; the balls are thrown into boiling water in a huge wok and served as soon as they resurface.
But, watch out for pranksters putting a birdseye chilli inside of jaggery! Mont let saung is another refreshing Thingyan snack; bits of sticky rice with toasted sesame in jaggery syrup and coconut milk. Thingyan is the nationwide festival; it is the biggest festival in the country and a massive water fight! Songkran is a quite well known internationally but Myanmar still holds a lot of traditions and craziness to it.
The country pretty much turns of for one week, shops close and everyone gets out on the streets spraying water on each other from the morning throughout the day. In Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, the scene has been modernized and it has developed into a real party city. You will see children with water guns and pick-up trucks full up with people dancing to the heavy music with beats banging on the streets.
But you have to buy the tickets. The prices are around 50, kyats per day. Most of the mandats from Yangon are located at the venue on Pyay Road. While some people are put off visiting at this time because of the intense heat, there are big bonuses to going just outside of the peak season if you like it hot: sites can be quieter, transport easier to book, and accommodation which is limited in terms of capacity in certain areas more readily available.
There are, however, a few practicalities to consider as the country basically goes on hold for three days.
While April is good overall for finding accommodation, the Thingyan Festival is a national holiday, so places get booked up quickly during this time — book your stay in advance to guarantee a hotel, guesthouse or hostel where you want.
Poised on a hilltop in the heart of Yangon, the pagoda is the most revered landmark and religious site in the country. Taking place from April 13 to 16 each year, the Buddhist festival of Thingyan is celebrated over four to five days, culminating on the Lunar New Year Day.
Thingyan traces its roots back to a Hindu myth. The Hindu god was so powerful that if his head was thrown into the sea it would dry up immediately.
If it were thrown onto land it would be scorched. If it were thrown up into the air the sky would burst into flames. The new year thus has come to signify the this annual change of hands. The eve of Thingyan is the start of a slew of religious activities. Buddhists are expected to observe the Eight Precepts, which include having only one meal before noon. Alms and offerings are also before monks in their monasteries.
Many locals also check in to the temple for several days of praying and volunteer work in hopes of atoning for their sins. This is the time when Shwedagon Paya is at its busiest, with pious Buddhists streaming in and out for days on end.
The actual day of Thingyan is known as a-kya nei, the day when Thagya Min, the King of Devas, makes his descent to earth from his celestial abode. In most towns and cities, a cannon is fired and people come out with pots of water and pour the water onto the ground with a prayer. Serious water throwing only begins on this day in most of the country.
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