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Buddhist festivals fall all year round in Myanmar and usually
coincide with the full moon. There are also many festivals
that are specific to particular villages or temples. The best
source of accurate information concerning these festivals
is the Myanmar Embassy.
Temple fairs or pagoda festivals, lasting a week or longer,
are the equivalent of western fun fairs, with entertainers,
magicians, puppeteers, musicians, clairvoyants, healers and
patent medicine purveyors moving from one fair to the next
bringing excitement, colour and a much-earned break to the
lives of local people.
Spirit festivals, known as Nat Pwes, whilst having only a
tacit connection to Buddhism, have equal significance and
share a tendency to coincide with the full moon. Major festivals
fall during March, Buddhist Lent (July-September) and December.
April
 Thingyan
Water Festival - Celebrating the Myanmar New Year, this
festival lasts for several days and is marked by major, good-natured
water throwing. It is also a time of merit making, and older
people go to temples for prayer and alms giving.
May
The
Kason Festival - Representing the day the Buddha was born,
the day He attained Enlightenment, and the day of His passing,
this festival falls on the day of the full moon of Kason in
the Myanmar calendar, in early May. Visits are made to pagodas
to water the sacred Bo Trees - under which species the Buddha
is said to have attained Enlightenment.
July
The
Waso Festival - Commemorating
the Buddha's first sermon, this festival also marks the beginning
of Buddhist Lent. Monks are given new robes and other requirements
to tide them through the months ahead.
October
Thadingyut
Festival (Festival of Lights) - Marking the end of Buddhist
Lent, this festival, held on the full moon day of Thadingyut,
lasts for three days during which houses and streets are festively
decorated and illuminated. People crowd into their local pagodas
to offer alms and make merit. Younger people also pay homage
to their parents, elders and teachers.
 Phaungdaw
Oo Pagoda Festival, Inle Lake - Phaungdaw Oo Pagoda's
Buddha images are ferried from village to villages for people
to pay homage. Fairs, dances, the leg rowers' boat races and
general festivities counterbalance the more austere ceremonial
aspect. This is the biggest celebration in the Shan state.
Elephant
Dance Festival - Though enacted in several towns and villages,
the town with the best festival is Kyauk-se, 40km south of
Mandalay. Two full size paper elephants, one black, one white,
each with two men inside, dance through the town with much
pageantry and ceremony.
November
Tazaungdaing
Festival - Held on the full moon day of Tazaungmon
according to the Myanmar Calendar, this festival finds houses
and public buildings decorated and brightly lit. Robes and
other requisites are offered to monks with the special offering
of Mathothigan - a robe that is woven in one single day -
held on the eve of the full moon. Dedicated teams of weavers
compete with one another to complete the robes, which are
then reverently offered to images of Buddha.
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