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Tazaungdine Festivle or A time of enjoyment

Myanmar is known as the Golden Land, but it can also properly be called the Land of Festivals, as religious and cultural celebrations take place all across the country and throughout the year.

The biggest and most popular annual festival is, of course, Thingyan, the traditional Myanmar Water Festival that celebrates the coming of the Buddhist New Year in the lunar month of Tagu. In villages and cities throughout the country, many young people celebrate the threeor four-day festival by pouring or spraying water on each other, while the more devout stay home with their families or retreat to monasteries to meditate.

Another popular festival is the three-day Thadingyut Festival of Lights that marks the end of Buddhist Lent in October. This
is followed one month later by the Tazaungdine Festival of Lights, which is accompanied nationwide by donation ceremonies and lighting festivities.

The month between the two Festivals of Light is known as Kahtein, when people donate new robes or other supplies they
think monks might need to local monasteries, including cash, alms bowls, umbrellas, slippers, fans, brooms, cups and furniture. Schools and business offices make donations by collecting contributions from students orstaff. The donations are hung on wooden frames, while cash is folded into different shapes and stapledonto the frames.

During the month, lines of people led by dancing troupes and pretty ladies carry the frames to their chosen monasteries. According to radition, each monastery can only accept one set of wooden frames, whose items are distributed by lottery to the resident monks. Buddhists believe that making these donations will gain them merit towards their next life.

Many robes (Kahtein thingan) are also donated to monks during the festival, and on the night before the Full Moon Day of Tazaungdine, robe-weaving contests are held at famous pagodas like Shwedagon in Yangon and Mahamuni in Mandalay. Lasting all night long, these contests feature teams of female weavers competing to finish their projects before dawn. The resulting robes are offered to the Buddha images at the pagodas. The weavers are usually surrounded by crowds of onlookers, who might watch in respectful silence for a while before wandering off to buy food or handicrafts at one of the many vendors’ stalls set up for the festival. On the night of the full moon, lanterns, candles and electric lights are used to illuminate streets, homes and pagodas throughout the country. Pilgrims travel from all over the country to see a special ceremony at Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda (Golden Rock) in Mon State, where 9000 candles are lit as an offering to the Buddha. Seeing thousands of pilgrims praying at the pagoda, with the platform surrounding the stupa ablaze with thousands of candles as the cool wind sweeps across the mountaintop, is a sight to behold.

Another special Tazaungdine festival takes place in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, where a hot-air balloon contest is held. Known locally as the Lu Ping Festival, it is thought to have been originated by the local Pa-O people. Competitors put a lot of time, effort and money into preparing for the daytime and nighttime contests. The daytime balloons are mostly made in the shapes of pagodas and animals such as dragons, elephants, mythical hintha birds and ducks, while those shown at night usually take the form of illuminated globes.

In Sagaing Division, Kaungmudaw Pagoda and other pagodas are famous for Tazaungdine festivities that include markets where village products such as hand-woven cotton clothes, rattan mats, sandalwood and thanakhaare sold. Another common practice throughout Myanmar is making mezali bud salad on the Full Moon Night, believed to have the power to cure all ailments if eaten at the proper time. People gather at homes to make the salad under the magical light of the full moon, and it is often handed out for free to pilgrims at local pagoda festivals.

Author by Myo Thiri(SweSone Yangon Inflight Magazine)

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