Thingyan
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Thingyan | |
---|---|
The people of Burma | |
Significance | Marks the Burmese New Year |
Observances | Water Splashing games, merit-making activities, gadaw |
Begins | 13 April |
Ends | 16 April |
Date | 13–16 April |
Frequency | annual |
Related to | South and Southeast Asian solar New Year |
Thingyan is the Myanmar New Year festival that usually occurs in middle of April. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. The dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar. The dates of the festival are observed as public holidays throughout Myanmar, and are part of the summer holidays at the end of the school year. Water-throwing or dousing one another from any shape or form of vessel or device that delivers water is the distinguishing feature of this festival and may be done on the first four days of the festival. The New Year takes place at virtually the same time as the new year celebrations of many countries in South Asia like China (Dai People of Yunnan Province), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.[1]
Thingyan is comparable to other festivities in the region such as the
Names
The name "Thingyan" (
Origin & History
The story about Thingyan is a Buddhist version of Hindu mythology. The King of Brahmas called Arsi (အာသီ), lost a wager to the King of Devas, Śakra (သိကြားမင်း), who decapitated Arsi as agreed. Still, the head of an elephant was put onto the Brahma's body which then became Ganesha. The Brahma was so powerful that if the head were 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. Sakra, therefore, ordained that the Brahma's head be carried by one goddess after another taking turns for a year each. The new year henceforth has come to signify the changing of hands of the Brahma's head.[2][3]
Although there's no evidence of when the Thingyan Festival was started, many historians said that it was established during the Tagaung Kingdom, also known as the Pyu Era, but once the Bagan Kingdom was established, Thingyan becomes one of the most famous festivals in Myanmar. The earliest stone inscription about Thingyan is found at [Kyaut Kuumin] pagoda which dates back to 11 AD.
Thingyan Eve
The eve of Thingyan, the first day of the festival is called Pre-day (in Myanmar, အကြိုနေ့), and is the start of a variety of religious activities. Buddhists are expected to observe the
Nightfall brings music, song and dance, and merrymaking in anticipation of the water festival. In neighbourhoods, pavilions with festive names constructed from bamboo, wood and beautifully decorated papier mache, are assembled overnight. Local girls rehearse for weeks and even years, in the run-up to the great event in song and dance in chorus lines. Each band of girls are uniformly dressed in colourful tops and skirts and wears garlands of flowers and tinsel. They 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 (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) blossoms in their hair. Padauk blooms only one day each year during Thingyan and is popularly known as the "Thingyan flower". Large crowds of revellers, on foot, on bicycles and motorbikes, and in trucks, will do the rounds of all the mandat, some making their own music and most of the women wearing thanaka and padauk. Floats, decorated and lit up, also with festive names and carrying an orchestra as well as dozens of young men on each of them, will roam the streets stopping at every mandat exchanging songs specially written for the festival including Thingyan classics, and performing than gyat (similar to rapping but one man leads and the rest bellows at the top of their voices making fun of and criticising whatever is wrong in the country today such as fashion, consumerism, runaway inflation, crime, drugs, AIDS, corruption, inept politicians etc.).[6] Accidents and incidents from drunk or reckless driving in crowded streets, as well as drunkenness, arguments and brawling are problems that typically occur. Generally, however friendliness and goodwill prevail.
Water Festival
The next day called a-kya nei (အကျနေ့) is when Thingyan fully arrives as
Serious water throwing does not begin until a-kya nei in most of the country although there are exceptions to the rule. Traditionally, Thingyan involved the sprinkling of scented water in a silver bowl using sprigs of thabyay (
Modern-day celebrations
During the Water Festival, the Myanmar government relaxed restrictions on gatherings.[7] In the former capital, Yangon, the government permits crowds to gather on the Kandawgyi Pat Lann and Kabaraye Roads. 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 [8]
The third day is known as a-kyat nei (အကြတ်နေ့) 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 (အတက်နေ့) 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 (မုန့်လုံးရေပေါ်), 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.[2] Young men and women help in making it and all are welcome, some have put a birdseye chilli inside instead of jaggery as a trick. Mont let saung (မုန့်လက်ဆောင်း) 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 (လောင်းလှေ, laung hlei) to throw at revellers and Rakhine Mont di is served.
New Year's Day
The following is New Year's Day (နှစ်ဆန်းတစ်ရက်နေ့, hnit hsan ta yet nei). At this time Burmese visit elders and pay obeisance by
On New Year's Day, people offer food donations called
Regional traditions
- Rakhine State - The Rakhine people have three unique customs that form Thingyan, namely the nantha grinding ceremony, the nantha pouring ceremony and the water festival.[11] On the evening of New Year's Eve, Rakhine girls assemble to grind blocks of nantha sandalwood (used as a traditional cosmetic in Burma) on a kyaukpyin (a flat, circular stone used to grind sandalwood), as part of a competition.[11] The following morning, the Rakhine visit monasteries and pagodas to offer the ground nantha to Buddha statues, as a gesture of ushering the new year.[11]
- Myeik pay respects to elders and provide free meals to accompany Thaman Kyar dance performances.[11]
- Shan State - The Shan people call Thingyan "Sangkyan" (သၢင်းၵျၢၼ်ႇ) and prepare a steamed sweetmeat called khaw mun haw (ၶဝ်ႈမုၼ်းႁေႃႇ), made of glutinous rice flour and jaggery, wrapped in banana leaf.[13] This is offered to neighbors as a gift of goodwill.
- Chittagong Hill Tracts in Southeastern Bangladesh - Marma people organize water pouring stages in their villages. The main participants are young boys and girls. Apart from water pouring, they also visit a monastery to make special offerings and pray for well-being in the coming year. Marmas commonly follow the Burmese calendar.
See also
- Water Festival
- List of Buddhist festivals
- South and Southeast Asian New Year
References
- Khin Myo Chit (1980). Flowers and Festivals Round the Burmese Year. Archived from the original on 2006-11-13.
Notes
- ^ "The Myawady Daily". 7 April 2015.
- ^ a b c Min Kyaw Min. "Thingyan". Northern Illinois University.
- ^ "Royal Thazin". 3 March 2020.
- ^ "The Eight Precepts".
- ^ a b c Shway Yoe (Sir James George Scott) 1882. The Burman - His Life and Notions. New York: Norton Library 1963. pp. 353, 348–349, 343–344.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Ko Thet (June 2006). "Laughing All the Way to Prison". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2006-07-07.
- ^ "In Myanmar, Celebrating Water, Letting Off Steam", in the New York Times, April 20, 2009, p. A11.
- ^ "In Myanmar, Celebrating Water, Letting Off Steam", in the New York Times, April 20, 2009, p. A11
- ^ "နှစ်ဆန်းတစ်ရက်နေ့". Eleven Media Group (in Burmese). 17 April 2019.
- ^ "မြန်မာရိုးရာ အတာနှစ်ကူး ခေါင်းဆေးမင်္ဂလာ". DVB (in Burmese). 14 April 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Feng, Yingqiu (14 April 2010). "Ethnic style of celebrating water festival inherited in Myanmar". Xinhua. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ "A Special Thingyan Meal". Myanmar's NET. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ISBN 0-931745-92-6.
External links
- Thingyan 2004 photos by Gerry Haines
- Thingyan Fun and Games
- Old Thingyan photo of a float by Goto Osami
- Thingyan Photos by Goto Osami
- Thingyan Time - When Fun-Loving Burmese Douse Their Disappointments Yeni, The Irrawaddy, April 11, 2007
- Thangyat: Traditional Songs Hard to Suppress The Irrawaddy, April 2008