Thingyan
Thingyan (Burmese):
from
Pali sankanta,
which translates 'transit (of the Sun from Pisces to Aries) is the Burmese New
Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April (the Burmese month of Tagu). It is a Buddhist
festival celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating
in the New Year.
Formerly
the dates of the Thingyan festival are calculated according to the traditional Burmese lunisolar
calendar, but now fixed to Gregorian calendar 13 to 16 April; it often
coincides with Easter.
The dates of the festival are observed as the most important public holiday
throughout Burma
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. However, in most parts of
the country, it does not begin in earnest until the second day. Thingyan is
comparable to other new year festivities in Theravada Buddhist areas of Southeast
Asia such as Lao New Year, Cambodian New Year and Songkran
in Thailand.
History
Thingyan is originated from the Buddhist
version of a Hindu myth. The King of Brahmas called Arsi, lost a wager to the
King of Devas, Śakra
(Thagya Min), who decapitated Arsi as agreed but the head of an elephant
was put onto the Brahma's body who 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 princess Devi 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.
Thingyan
Eve
The eve of Thingyan, the first day of the
festival called a-kyo nei (in Myanmar), is the start of a variety of
religious activities. Buddhists are expected to observe the Eight
Precepts, more than the basic Five Precepts, including having only
one meal before noon. Thingyan is a time when uposatha
observance days, similar to the Christian Sabbath, are held. Alms and offerings
are laid before monks in their monasteries and offerings of a green coconut
with its stalk intact encircled by bunches of green bananas (
nga pyaw pwè oun pwè) and sprigs of thabyay or jambul (Syzygium
cumini) before the Buddha images over which scented water
is poured in a ceremonial washing from the head down. In ancient times Burmese
kings had a hair washing ceremony with clear pristine water from Gaungsay
Kyun (Head wash Island), a small rocky outcrop of an island in the Gulf of
Martaban near Mawlamyaing.
By nightfall, the real fun begins with music,
song and dance, merrymaking and general gaiety in anticipation of the water
festival. In every neighbourhood pavilions or stages, with festive names and
made from bamboo, wood and beautifully decorated papier mache, have sprung up
overnight. Local belles have been rehearsing for weeks and even years, in the
run-up to the great event in song and dance in chorus lines, each band of girls
uniformly dressed in colourful tops and skirts and garlanded in 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 blossoms in their hair. The padauk (Pterocarpus
macrocarpus) blooms but one day each year during Thingyan and is popularly
known as the "Thingyan flower". Large crowds of revellers, on foot,
bicycles and motorbikes, and in open top jeeps and trucks, will do the rounds
of all the mandat, some making their own music and most of the womenfolk
wearing thanaka and padauk. Floats, gaily decorated and lit up, also
with festive names and carrying an orchestra as well as dozens of amorous young
men on each of them, will roam the streets stopping at every mandat
exchanging songs specially written for the festival including the Thingyan classics
that everyone knows, 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.). It is indeed a time for letting go, a major safety valve for
stress and simmering discontent. There will be the usual spate of accidents and
incidents from drink driving or just reckless driving in crowded streets full
of revellers and all manner of vehicles, as well as drunkenness, arguments and
brawling which the authorities have to be prepared for at this time of the
year. Generally however friendliness and goodwill prevail along with some
boisterous jollity.
Water
Festival
The next day called a-kya nei is when
Thingyan truly arrives as Thagyamin makes his descent from his celestial abode to earth.
At a given signal, cannon (Thingyan a-hmyauk) is fired and people come
out with pots of water and sprigs of thabyay, then pour the water onto
the ground with a prayer. A prophesy for the new year (Thingyan
sa) will have been announced by the brahmins
(ponna) and this is based on what animal Thagya Min will be riding on
his way down and what he might carry in his hand. Children will be told that if
they have been good Thagya Min will take their names down in a golden book
but if they have been naughty their names will go into a dog book!
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 (Jambul), a
practice that continues to be prevalent in rural areas. The sprinkling of water
was intended to metaphorically "wash away" one's sins of the previous
year. In major cities such as Yangon& Mandalay, garden hoses, huge syringes made of
bamboo, brass or plastic, water pistols and other devices from which water can
be squirted are used in addition to the gentler bowls and cups, but water
balloons and even fire hoses have been employed! It is the hottest time of the
year and a good dousing is welcomed by most. Everyone is fair game except monks
and obviously pregnant women. Some overenthusiastic young lads may get captured
by women, who often are their main target, and become kids of a practical joke
with soot from cooking pots smeared on their faces. Maidens from mandats
with dozens of garden hoses exchange hundreds of gallons of water with throngs
of revellers and one float after another. Many revellers carry towels to block
the jet of water getting into the ear and for modesty's sake as they get
thoroughly soaked and drenched in their light summer clothes. The odd prankster
might use ice water and a drive-by splash with this would provoke shrieks of
surprise followed by laughs from its victims. Pwè (performances) by
puppeteers, orchestras, dance troupes, comedians, film stars and singers
including modern pop groups are commonplace during this festival.
Modern-day
celebrations
During the Water Festival, the Myanmar government relaxes the restrictions
on gatherings. In the former capital, Yangon, the government permits crowds to
gather on the Kadawgyi Pet 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
The third day is called a-kyat nei and
there may be two of them, an extra day in certain years. The fourth is known as
a-tet nei 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 yeibaw, 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. All the
young men and women help in making it and all are welcome, but watch out for
some prankster putting a birdseye chilli inside instead of jaggery for a laugh!
Mont let saung is another refreshing Thingyan snack, 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 (laung
hlei) to throw at revellers and Rakhine mohinga
is served.
New
Year's Day
The next day is New Year's Day ( hnit hsan ta
yet nei). It is a time for people to
visit the elders and pay obeisance by gadaw (also called shihko)
with a traditional offering of water in a terracotta pot and shampoo. Young
people perform hair washing for the elderly often in the traditional manner
with shampoo beans (Acacia rugata) and bark.
Many make New Year resolutions, generally in the mending of ways and doing
meritorious deeds for their karma. Releasing fish (nga hlut pwè)
is another time-honoured tradition on this day; fish are rescued from lakes and
rivers drying up under the hot sun, then kept in huge glazed earthen pots and
jars before releasing into larger lakes and rivers with a prayer and a wish saying
"I release you once, you release me ten times". Thingyan (a-hka
dwin) is also a favourite time for shinbyu,
novitiation ceremonies for boys in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism when they will join the
monks (Sangha)
and spend a short time, perhaps longer, in a monastery immersed in the
teachings of the Buddha, the Dharma. It is akin to rites of
passage or coming of age ceremonies in other religions.
On the New Year's Day, people make food
donations called satuditha at various places. They typically provide
free food to those participating in the New Year's celebrations.
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