Thingyan
Thingyan, also known as the Myanmar New Year, is a festival that usually occurs in the middle of April. Thingyan marks the transition from the old year to the new one, based on the traditional Myanmar lunisolar calendar. The festival usually spans four to five days, culminating in New Year’s Day, and is one of the most anticipated public holidays across the country.
The highlight of the celebration is the symbolic throwing of water, representing the washing away of sins and bad luck from the previous year. People engage in water fights using buckets and water guns, especially during the first four days. Streets become lively with music, dance troupes, and temporary stages called pandal.
Thingyan is not only a joyful festival but also a time for merit-making. Many people practice religious observances such as almsgiving, releasing fish and birds, and visiting monasteries. It is also customary to pay respect to elders and parents by washing their hair or feet.
The New Year coincides with new year celebrations throughout Southeast Asia and South Asia, including Pi Mai in Laos, Songkran in Thailand, the Cambodian New Year, the Sinhalese New Year and festivals like Vaisakhi, Puthandu, Vishu, Ugadi, and Bihu in India. It was also heavily influenced by Britain during the colonial period.
Names
The name "Thingyan" is derived from the Sanskrit word, Saṁkrānti, which means the "transit .". The period of Thingyan is also called Atā in Burmese. The holiday is known as Sangkran in Mon and as Sangkyan in Shan.Origins and history
Origin story
The story about Thingyan is a Buddhist version of Hindu mythology. The King of Brahmas called Arsi, lost a wager to the King of Devas, Śakra, also known as Thagyamin, who decapitated Arsi as agreed. Still, the head of an elephant was put onto the Brahma's body which then became Ganesha. The Brahma's head was so powerful that throwing it into the sea would dry it up, onto land would scorch it, and into the air would ignite the sky. 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.History
Historians note that Thingyan was first celebrated during the Bagan period, coinciding with the establishment of the Bagan Kingdom in the 9th century. Historical evidence suggests these festivals were celebrated throughout the reign of King Anawrahta in the 11th century, continuing into the 12th and 13th centuries. Some historians speculate that a similar water festival was celebrated during the Pyu era, although evidence remains inconclusive. The festival is recorded on a stone inscription at Sawhlawun Pagoda dating to 1291.In ancient times, a cannon was used as a signal to notify the people that Thagyamin already descended Earth, which means the Thingyan Festival had already started. Once the cannon was fired, communities, including the members of the Burmese royal family, came out with pots of water and sprigs of thabyay, then poured the water onto the ground with a prayer. A prophecy for the new year will have been announced by the brahmins and this is based on what animal Thagyamin will be riding on his way down and what he might carry in his hand.
Day 1: Eve of Thingyan
The eve of Thingyan, the first day of the festival is called "a-kyo", and is the start 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 and Eugenia sprig 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, a small rocky outcrop of an island in the Gulf of Martaban near Mawlamyine.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-mâché, 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 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.
Day 2: Descent
The next day called "a-kya" is when Thingyan fully arrives as Thagyamin makes his descent from his celestial abode to Earth. Children are told that if they have been good, Thagyamin 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, 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, 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. Water balloons and even fire hoses have been employed. It is the hottest time of the year in the country and a good dousing is welcomed by most. All able-bodied individuals are included in this game, except for monks. 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 mandat's with dozens of garden hoses exchange hundreds of gallons of water with throngs of revellers and one floats after another. Many revellers carry towels to block water from getting into their ears and for modesty as they get thoroughly soaked in their light summer clothes. The odd prankster might use ice water and a drive-by splash with this would be taken humorously. Pwè by puppeteers, orchestras, yein dance troupes, comedians, film stars and singers including modern pop groups are commonplace during this festival.
Days 3 and 4: Eclipse and ascent
The third day is known as "a-kyat", a key part of the Thingyan festival when water-throwing is at its peak. In some years, there may be two a-kyat days instead of one, as an extra day is added based on traditional Myanmar lunisolar calendar calculations. This occurs to align the festival with the precise solar transition marking the New Year.The fourth day is known as "a-tet", symbolizing the moment Thagyamin, the celestial king, returns to the heavens. It marks the final day of the water festival, and it is generally more calm and respectful. Traditionally, people stop throwing water and focus on merit-making, such as offering food to monks, releasing fish, and doing good deeds.
However, playfulness still lingers, and it's common to see people splashing water late into the day. Some jokingly say, "Thagyamin forgot his pipe and has come back for it!", keeping the fun spirit alive even as the festival draws to a close.
Day 5: New Year's Day
The following is New Year's Day. At this time Burmese visit elders and pay obeisance by gadaw with a traditional offering of water in a terracotta pot and shampoo. Young people perform hairwashing for the elderly often in the traditional manner with shampoo beans and bark. New year's resolutions are made, generally in the mending of ways and doing meritorious deeds for their karma. Releasing fish is another time-honoured tradition on this day; fish are rescued from lakes and rivers that are drying up, then the fish are kept in huge glazed earthen pots and jars before being released into larger lakes and rivers with a prayer and a wish saying "I release you once, you release me ten times". Thingyan is also a common time for shinbyu, novitiation ceremonies for boys in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism when they will join the monks and spend a short time in a monastery immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma. It is akin to rites of passage or coming of age ceremonies in other religions.File:Mandalay Thingyan Rehearsal 2012.JPG|thumb|right|220px|Burmese girls perform the Myanmar traditional yein dance with Myanmar dress in the opening ceremony of the Mandalay Thingyan Festival,2012.
On New Year's Day, people offer food donations called satuditha at various places. They typically provide free food to those participating in the New Year's celebrations. Many Burmese wash their heads with Tayaw, kinpun on Burmese New Year's Day so as to leave behind all the impurities and bad omens from the past.