Basics - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 66

ShwedagonPagodaFestival Yangon; two weeks in Feb/March. Myanmar's largest pagoda
festival during which pilgrims descend on the great pagoda from all over the country to
make offerings, accompanied by pwe dancing and theatre, robe-weaving competitions and
more.
Thingyan Water Festival Countrywide; April 13-16. The mother of all national festivals,
for which the entire country more or less shuts down for the duration. In theory it's a cel-
ebration of the Burmese New Year and a time to observe and reaffirm one's Buddhist be-
liefs.Inrealitythefestivalismorelikeanenormouswaterfight,withchildrenandhormonal
teenagers taking to the streets and dousing one another (and anyone else nearby, foreigners
especially) with huge buckets of water, and special streetside platforms erected from which
revellers hose down passing motorists, accompanied by deafening music.
Thadingyut Festival of Lights Countrywide; three days in Oct. After Thingyan, the
second-biggest national festival, celebrating the end of Buddhist Lent and the descent of the
Buddha from heaven after preaching to the gods. Events are held at pagodas across Myan-
mar (particularly in Yangon and at Inle Lake), along with food stalls galore and perform-
ancesoftraditionaldramaanddance,whilelocalsfilltheirhouseswithlanternsandcandles.
Tazaungdaing(akaTazaungmone)FestivalofLights Countrywide;Nov.Heldonthefull-
moon night of the Buddhist month of Tazaungmone and celebrating the end of the rainy
season. Streets, homes and pagodas are brilliantly illuminated and offerings made to mon-
asteries, with triangular wooden frames erected around towns and along roadsides to which
devotees pin banknotes and attach other gifts to be handed over to local monks. In some
places (particularly Taunggyi) hot-air balloons illuminated with candles are released, while
special robe-weaving competitions (the biggest at Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda) are also
held at shrines across the land, with young ladies attempting to weave a new monastic robe
in the course of a single night.
Taunggyi Fire-Balloon Festival Inle Lake; one week in Oct or Nov. A local offshoot of
Tazaungdaing Festival during which the lake's Pa-O community release hundreds of giant
paperballoons,oftendesignedintheshapeofanimalssuchasducks,dragonsandelephants,
amid a great barrage of fireworks .
< Back to Basics
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND SPORTS
With its wide-open spaces, lakes, hills, mountains and thousands of kilometres of coast,
Myanmarisapotentialgoldmineofadventuretourism.Itremainslargelyunexploited,
although a few places in the hills lure visitors with well-developed trekking networks,
and there's a decent selection of other outdoor activities available, from cycling to
scuba-diving.