In Myanmar, New Year occasion is called Thingyan and lasts from 13th - 17th April every year. Myanmar’s traditional year is based on a 12-month lunar calendar, and this determines the dates of festivals and Buddhist holidays, beginning with Thingyan, the Burmese New Year or Water festival.
Myanmar’s traditional New Year Festival
The hot season from March to April brings Thingyan (“changing over”) water festival, Myanmar’s biggest party, marking the traditional New Year’s Day held at full moon during the lunar month of Tagu. The festival goes on for three or four days, the length of the celebration determined by ponna or Brahman astrologers.
- It is the Burmese custom that everyone splash water onto each other to cleanse for a New Year
Water is poured from delicate silver vessels, sprayed from water pistols, hurled from buckets, and even blasted from fire hydrants to wash away the old year and welcome the new. The drenching stops each day at 6.30pm, and is followed by an evening of feasting and partying. For the duration of the festival, government buildings and businesses are closed.
Cleansing for the New Year
During the Myanmar Water Festival, and actually during the whole month of April, all citizens are supposed to be extra happy and at ease. For four days before New Year’s Day the tradition claims that everybody in Myanmar shall splash water on one other in order to cleanse for the New Year. Myanmar’s Thingyan could be compared to Thailand’s Songkran. Both are New Year Festivals with lots of water splashing and both happen in April. Other similar celebrations take place in Laos and China.
- A Rakhine girl pours water at revelers during Thingyan in Yangon
The word Thingyan means “moving from one thing into another” and the Thingyan Water Festival has been celebrated for more than 500 years. It is a festival deeply rooted in the Burmese people’s hearts and all of Burma’s citizens take part in the festivities.
A very wet festival
The tradition to splash water during the New Year celebrations exists in most Southeast Asian countries. In Myanmar the people believe that all the sins they have committed during the past year can be cleansed away with the water that’s thrown on them by their fellow citizens during Thingyan. All sins and disillusions are washed away from body, mind and soul and the New Year can start with a purified existence. April is Burma’s hottest month, so being splashed with water all days long is more a relief than a burden. Any clothes will dry fast under the ruthless sun.
- Burmese women in their traditional dresses
During the Myanmar Water Festival small stages are set up along the streets of cities and small towns. On these are groups of students or representatives of the state armed with buckets full of water. When a vehicle or person passes in front of these stages they are drenched with water. It is an act of kindness and much appreciated by all. On the bigger stages traditional Myanmar Thingyan dance shows are set up.
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