Burma is a land of festivals. Among them, Thingyan Water Festival is the best suggestion for your Burma luxury holiday. However, it is a good idea to experience the festival in different regions across the country.
Thingyan Water Festival, the greatest festival of the year in Burma taking place in every April, is a suggestion for your Burma luxury holiday. Just by pouring water and soaking each other to the bone, Burmese people believe happily that their families and beloved will have a great deal of wealth, wellness and luck during the forthcoming year. The Water Festival is also made to clear away any evils.
It is a good idea to enjoying this merriest festival in different regions of Burma so that you can have an overall view of various cultural traditions during this Burma luxury holiday. One of the best places to visit in Burma is Rakhine Regions. Unlike other Burmese, the locals celebrate Thingyan Water Festival in their own way called Rakhine Custom. For instance, there is lovely pouring water mutually between boys and girls. Rakhine people also erect a big tent with a traditional small boat placed in the middle. In that way, a small boat will be filled with water which may then be used soak any people passing by. Usually, young ladies pour water on young men, which is typical to Rakhine Water Festival.
However, people don’t pour water during the first days of Thingyan in some regions of Rakhine State. For example, in a small village on the small island surrounded by the rivers near Yambye Island, the precepts in the Monastery must be kept so there is no celebration during the Water Festival. And on the 3rd day or 4th day of the festival, having washed Buddha images and Pagodas, the whole village will start to celebrate the Thingyan Water Festival while other villages have already stopped their celebrations. Clearly, you can learn that the way Burmese celebrate the Water Festival is varied according to that village’s custom.
The island mentioned above is called Ghantghar, positioned near the head of Yambye Island throughout the Rakhine Coastline. There are four villages, each of which has between 150 and 200 households living together peacefully on the island.
On the first two days of the water fights, elderly people here go to the Monastery where the whole village makes traditional food and give other villages and Monks for free. This is one of the things to do in Burma.
Having finished cleansing Buddha image and Pagodas, the four villages start water fights and this lasts for three days. The wonderful custom in these island villages will make your Burma luxury holiday unforgettable because young men team in one village have water fights with young women team from another village. On each day, there are three water festival celebrations which start from morning till evening. In the morning, young men team of village 1 will celebrate Water Festival; while in the afternoon, young men team of village 2 come and in the evening, village 3 pour water to the young ladies team. Each team is led by one person. To ask the ladies team to come, young men team play Rakhine traditional musical instrument. Then the ladies team leader orders her team to get ready for the fights. And what the village ladies use to fill water and pour to young men is big glazed earthen jars.
Before the festival, all local teams sing and dance happily together (You can enjoy this happiness any time you take Burma cruises). This is also a chance for a young man to get his beloved lady’s love by inviting her to dance with him and the lady cannot deny his proposal. After the time of dancing and singing happily, all men and women will start pouring water mutually. It just looks like a competition, not mention a riot, in which ladies team are making huge attempts to win over the men who are also trying to soak ladies to the bone.
You can observe an interesting situation in which a man is being surrounded by ladies. Of course, they are pouring water very strongly onto him. However, another man will come soon to help his friend out of that situation. Vice versa, a lady can be met up with a case like that. The festival is really made for young people because grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunties, children and head people of villages are just watching and laughing happily at the water fights. Here across the island, Thingyan Water Festival can be a real competition but sometimes it is not.
Another interesting fact about the water festival here is: The traditional foods can be left onto the roof to dry under the bright sun. Once dried, they can be easily tested, not mention that they are really delicious without decay. How lovely Burma luxury holiday with Water Festival in Rakhine is!
