Thingyan


Thingyan

Mid-April; during Burmese month of TaguThe three-day feast of the New Year in Burma (now officially called Myanmar) is also known as the Water Festival because of the custom of throwing or squirting water on others. The festival has been traditional for centuries; King Narathihapate (1254-1287) built enclosed corridors running from his palace to the banks of the Irrawaddy River; inside them he and his courtiers reveled in water throwing.
During the celebration, pots of clear cold water are offered to monks at monasteries to wash or sprinkle images of Buddha. Everyone else gets drenched; young men and women roam the streets dousing everybody with buckets of water or turning hoses on them. On the final day, the traditional Burmese New Year, birds and fish are set free, and young people wash the hair of their elders. The water-splashing custom originated with the idea that through this ritual the bad luck and sins of the old year were washed away. Now splashing people is more a frolicsome thing to do and also a way of cooling off. This is the hottest time of year in Burma, and temperatures can sizzle above 100 degrees.
See also Lunar New Year and Songkran
CONTACTS:
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
202-332-3344; fax: 202-332-4351
www.mewashingtondc.com
SOURCES:
BkHolWrld-1986, Apr 13
DictFolkMyth-1984, pp. 913, 1108
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 291