I finally have photos to aid me in my attempt to describe the undescribeable - the insane Thingyan holiday, aka “the water festival” in Myanmar.
First a little background:
Thingyan is the name of the Burmese new year holiday.
It’s celebrated over the course of 5 days in April according to the Buddhist calendar.
It’s the most important public holiday in Myanmar.
It coincides with the both the peak of the dry/hot season and the beginning of kiddies summer vacation from school.
In the past, it was a traditional part of the festival to sprinkle water into a silver bowl, to metaphorically “wash away ones sins” before the beginning of the new year. This has morphed into an all out water fight involving buckets, hoses, and water guns that persists through all 5 days, hence the modern name “Water festival”.
For more info, check out the Thingyan wikipedia entry.
Now some more specifics about the “water” part. Here are a few typical street scenes during the festival. This is what it looked like everywhere in Yangon and Mandalay over the five days of the festival:

Everywhere, and i mean EVERYWHERE, there are people in the street with the buckets and hoses just waiting for someone to walk or drive by. From my observations, no one is exempt except for monks. Women, young children, the elderly, a car with a window rolled down, everyone gets a bucket of water poured on them if they are out in public. Foreigners are especially popular to douse. It appeared to me that anyone who spots a foreigner coming informs everyone else nearby so they can have their water spraying implement ready and/or begin an active pursuit of the targets. There are no exceptions, for example, if you’re holding a camera, which made it challenging to get photos of the action!
Clustered around town are sponsored “hose stations”; a stage facing the street with a dozens of hoses for partakers to use:
Lots of folks, especially teenagers and young adults, pile into trucks and jeeps and drive slowly around town getting repeatedly soaked with water and throwing their own buckets at random people they pass . In the areas with high concentrations of hose stations there are also crowds of people dancing in the street amidst the spraying water.

I don't know !

I was working on my final project as usual; meeting Burmese new comers, asking about their experiences in life and so on. All the stories that they told me are similiar to this ( below ) story. I got this from one of my friends. I hope, this story will give you a " thought " on your mind. i don't know what kind of thoughts it will give you. But i am sure after reading this, something will come across on your mind.


Bangkok is a notorious destination for sex tourism.But the lives of many of the city's sex workers are full of danger, disease and the urgent need to send money home.Pim, who recently left her job in a go-go bar, has a typical story.
"I grew up in the countryside. My parents were farmers and I helped them in the fields. We were poor but we always had enough to get by.When I was about 15, my family fell apart. My father always drank a lot, but it became worse and worse, and he started becoming violent. So my mother, sister and I moved out.I wanted to study to become a nurse, but when my parents split up I had to leave school and find work as a day labourer, harvesting crops for local farmers. I didn't like it much, and it only paid 100 baht ($3) a day.At about that time a good friend moved to Bangkok, and when she came back to visit she told me she was earning a lot of money there as a waitress.
There was gossip in the village that she was doing something other than waitressing, as she was sending 10,000 baht ($300) home a month, but she always denied it.She asked me to come with her, but at the time I was still 16 and too scared. A few years later, though - when I had given birth to my daughter, and my husband and I had separated - I changed my mind.I left the baby with my mother, and told her I needed to earn some money in Bangkok. But I didn't tell her what I was doing - I still haven't. She'd be so ashamed.
'Can I do this?'When my friend took me to a bar in Nana Plaza for the first time, I was really shocked. I'd never been to a place like that before, and at the beginning I didn't even know what the dancers were doing.When I finally realized, I couldn't take it and I walked out of the bar. I kept thinking 'Can I really do this?'Initially I decided to work there just serving drinks, but the dancers earned a lot more money, and eventually I agreed to do that too.For the first month, the bar owners allow girls to get their full salary even if they just work as dancers. But after that you have to meet a quota of at least 10 customers a month, or your wages will be cut.
My first customer was a Western man in his 30s. It was scary and I really didn't like it, but I just kept thinking about the money.I couldn't wait for him to leave, and when he did I had a shower for a very long time. I started crying, and thought about what my parents would think if they knew what I was doing.None of my customers ever asked me about my life; they didn't care. There was one time a guy asked me if I was okay, but I didn't know what to say, so I just looked away.While I was working in the bars, I was often worried about disease, and also about safety. Some girls earned extra by going out of the bars with the men, but I always used a room upstairs as I was too scared of the risks involved.My friend once went with a guy to his hotel room, and found lots of other men there too. She wouldn't tell me what happened after that, but she was shaking for a long time when she got back home.I also had some scary experiences myself. One time a Japanese man followed me all the way home at the end of the night, and he kept screaming at me.Taxi drivers can also be threatening to bar girls, and we would only dare go home in groups.
Looking forwardDespite these problems, new girls often arrive. Many customers prefer children or young girls, and the bar owners always encouraged us to recruit teenagers from our home villages.Even though I got used to it in some ways, I always hated working in the bars. I made some good friends but there was nothing good about the life I was leading.
I felt good about sending money home, but I didn't feel good about myself. Soon I was getting penalized as I wasn't getting enough customers.
That's when a friend of mine told me about Nightlight [a Christian charity offering training and employment for former sex workers, through a jewellery-making business].Since I've started working there, my life is so much better. I don't earn as much as I did in the bars, but it's worth it, and people here listen to me and care for me.I've now got the opportunity to look forward in life. I want to finish school, and study accounting, so I'll be able to pay for my daughter to have a good life.I wish I had never become a sex worker. I think some foreign men think it's okay to pay for sex here in Thailand, as they think the girls actually want to do this.But these men don't understand that most of us have no choice - we're just trying to earn money for our families, and waiting for a chance to leave."

According to scholars, In Burma there is a three day New Year festival called Maha Thingyan, which is celebrated with prayers, fasting and fun. During the festivities, buildings and temples are washed, and people throw water over each other. This is partly to welcome the heavy rains of the coming monsoon season.
The Burmese New Year festival is held to celebrate the New Year, by performing meritorious deeds and spraying one another with Thingyan water.
The Burmese New Year, which is based on the Fixed Zodiac system, falls on or around April 16. Thingyan means change. Cula thingyan (or small change) occurs every month. Maha thingyan (or big change) occurs once a year. The Burmese consider it to occur in Meiktha on or around April 13 and lasting three or four days.
Thingyan is the traditional Burmese New Year's festival. It lasts for three days and during that time everyone must get wet in order to welcome in the New Year. The Burmese believe that water acts as a soul purifier. Getting wet means that one can start the New Year with a cleansed soul.
let me tell you about “Burmese family”. Family is important in Burmese culture. While I was at the festival, I saw young people being disobedient to their parents. I was so hurt by seeing these people because I know what a family means. I know that those parents are hurt by the ways their children are treating to them. But they can not show their feelings openly because “they are in the United States”. The family is very important in my family as well. But at the festival, most young people who were born here or grwon up here have hard tim followingt the traditions of the family. I am not saying that only parents have hard time teaching their children about Burrmese traditions and values. But aslo, the children also have the hard time to obey them. I know that they want to do what their parents did to their grandparents. The problem is the children spend so little time with their parents. If father works first shift then the mother works second shift. The children have school at 8:00 in the morning. So, where is the time for the parents to sit down and teach the value ? Most of them don’t have the time. The children have to spend all day with their classmates and neighbors who I am sure are American. So, everyday they are learing American culture and what American people call “ Freedom”. But a the festival, the families seem to put their very best afford to their children because I saw their children dressed in Burmese cloth and talking politely to their parents and other people.
Burmese people are very sensitive and very fragile. They are easy to love other person and hard to hate other person. At the festival, I saw everything that I am supposed to see. As an outsider and as an insider, there is one thing I might say is that Burmese people have beautiful traditions and beautiful beliefs. And I believe wherever they are, they will still be the same and follow their traditions and customs. Anyhow, by conclusion, even though those people have their values, customs and their own Burmese culture, they try their best to express what Burmese celebration look like in a foreign country. They try their best to bring the Burmese traditions and culture to American community with a hope that one day, American people and community will recognize Burmese as people with the golden culture and golden traditions.

New Year~

I will continue talking about Burmese Culture since Burmese New Year festival is not far. We are going to celebrate Burmese New Year festival ( water festival ) in April 6 around 4:00 pm at Sunset Hall. I recalled my memory from last year water festival. I had a wonderful time at the festival. I remembered about writing a paper about water festival last year. In order to write this blog entry, I had to go through my paper from last two semesters.
First of all, let me start with beliefs and values that Burmese people in Fort Wayne still maintain. It might sound ridiculous for you but it is very true. Before the ceremony begins the whole committee inclding all the elders, dancers and other participants gatehr together to pray for the ceremony. What we do is we sit in vertical line putting elders a front. The reason why we put elders a front is we believe that the elders that more experiences in life and we value their being here with us. After we line up, one of the elder starts to pray in Burmese for the good time and for no distruction from evil spirits. The prayer takes about 20 to 30 minutes. After the prayer, one of the prayer announces that the ceremony is in section, then the dancers come up and start dancing. They try to do the ceremony to be authentic according to Burmese style. As an outsider I might say that the prayer seems very beautiful and very cute it does not matter I believe in that or not. The custom that prays in Burmese before the ceremony is very pleasant to see to the outsiders and I heard some American people saying what a nice custom is ; putting the elders a front.
At the festival I saw many dances. Among those dances, I was surprised to see the folklore dance. Because folklore dance is very hard to dance because it takes time to practice and requires lots of hard works such as settings and people. But people in Fort Wayne presented the folklore dance at the festival as one of the prides of Burma.
There is one thing that I discovered as an outsider is the cloth that they wear. At the festival, most elder people wore Myanmar Longyi. I was happy to see people wearing Longyi because it shows that they still do not forget their cloth. In Burma, we have our own traditonal cloth. Most people in Burma still wear it. The “ Longyi ” looks like a sarong in India is worn by both male and female. The longyi represented the Burma and you can see the Longyi in Burmese money as one of the prouds of Burma. At the festial, I did not see a lot of men wearing longyi but I saw most of the elder women wore longyi. So, I asked why she is wearing longyi in the foreign country. She said “ I like longyi anyway. I do not like wearing skirt or pants. They make me uncomfortable. Once you got a stain on the back of your pants you can’t do anything about it beside change the pant. But with the longy you can put the stain inside and wore it like a sarong in India. Also, I want to show the American people our traditional dress. ”. Form that answer, you can see why she is proud of wearing the longyi and how much she enjoyed to wear it. I am very proud of her as an insider and very impressed by her speech as an outsider.

A true Spirit of the water-festival

Every nation of the world has designated its New Year day in accordance with its custom and tradition. Burmese New Year water throwing festival is going to be in April in Fort Wayne. The reason why the New Year is in April is that there are three seasons in Burma; rainy, summer and winter. According to Burmese calendar, March to May is summer season. Summer in Burma is very hot and humid. Sometimes, the degree goes up to over 100. That’s one of the reasons why the New Year festival is in April. What we do at the festival is we splash water to each other meaning to wash away the old year’s dirt and welcoming the new year with the refreshing water and wishing to be cool and in peace as water makes you cool down. But in Fort Wayne, you could still see the snow in April sometimes. There are 3000 Burmese people in Fort Wayne. They still hold onto their traditions and their customs. Nothing grand compared to the celebration back home but I dare say that it's the grandest THINGYAN (Water Festival) in any other countries outside our homeland.
According to the proofs and references, this sort of water festival has been celebrated in Myanmar since 500 years ago.

Layers of Culture

There are twelve months in Burmese calendar and twelve festivals in each months. Among those festival, the most well-known festival is Thingyan ( New Year’s celebration ). Thingyan festival lasts four days long. We celebrate Thingyan; water throwing festival in April. Before we proceed with the rest of the paper, there is something we should know about Burmese culture. Burmese culture is traditionally family and religion-oriented. As you know, Burma is Buddhist country and 97% of Burmese people are Buddhism. Burma got influences from the neighbor countries such as China and India where Buddhist stands in major category in their lives. Burmese culture is very unique because of its own traditions and values. In Burmese culture, we have the saying “ a-nah-dah ”. It means that a tendency of feeling hesitate towards other person. For example- I go to a house to visit. When I got there I saw that they are eating their lunch or so. As soon as they saw me coming in, the first words they say is “ come and eat with us ”. I said “ No, thank you” even though I am very hungry from my trip. The reason why I said No is because I feel “a-nah-dah”. If I say “ yes, I will eat ” then you have to get up and get a plate for me. If they have been eating with random dish, you have cook new dish for me because I am a guest. Burmese people care so much about their guests. They want their guests to be very satisfied with the hospitability. In American culture, if you want to eat then grab a plate, come and sit with us and eat what we eat. Unlike American culture, Burmese people will not let their guests eat what the host eats. The host wants to cook their best for their guests. Burmese hosts want the reputation of being a good host by giving the best of their food and the best services.
Thinking about American and Burmese culture, I realize one thing that is common between the two cultures is that each country has own culturally diverse in its own way. Needless to say America has a variety of nationalities, immigrants, scholars, and business people from different countries. Burma, on the other hand, is has in terms of its various tribes or ethnic groups, which possess their own distinct cultures within the country. Since Burma is composed of over 135 ethnic minorities, including the eight major ethnic groups, describing the culture is not easy.