What are some celebrations in Myanmar?

Answer 1

These are some of the most famous celebrations, festivals and holidays of Myanmar.

January/February - Independence Day (4th of January), this major public holiday is marked by a seven-day fair at Yangon's Kandawgyi lake, and nationwide fairs.

- Union Day (12th of February), this day marks Bogyoke Aung San's short-lived achievement of unifying Mayanmar's disparate ethnic groups. For two weeks preceding Union day, the national flag is paraded from town to town, and wherever the flag rests there must be a festival. the lunar month of Tabodwe culminates in a rice-harvesting festival on the new-moon day.

February/March - Shwedagon Festival, the lunar month of Tabaung brings the annual Shwedagon Festival, the largest paya pwe(pagoda festival) in Myanmar. the full-moon day in Tabaung is also an auspicious occasion for construction of new paya, and local paya pwes are held.

- Peasants' day (2nd of March), dedicated to the nations' farmers.

- Armed Forces (or Resistance) Day (27th of March), Armed Forces Day is celebrated with parades and fireworks. Since 1989 the government has made it a tradition to pardon a number of prisoners on this day.

April/May - Buddha's Birthday, the full-moonday of Kason is celebrated as the Buddha's birthday, the day of his enlightenment and the day he entered nibbana (nirvana). As such, it is known as the 'thrice-blessed day'. The holiday is celebrated by the ceremonial watering of of the sacred banyan tree. One of the best places to observe this ceremony is at Yangon's Shwedagon Paya, where a procession of girls carries earthen jars to the pagoda's three banyan trees.

- Water festival (or Thingyan), this is the celebration of the Myanmar New Year.

- Worker's Day (1st of May) although the government renounced socialism in 1989, the country still celebrates May Day as Workers' Day.

June/July - Martyr's Day (19th of July), this date commemorates the assassination of Bogyoke Aung San and his comrades on that day in 1947. Wreaths are laid at Bogyoke Aung San's mausoleum north of the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon.

These are some examples of the celebrations in Myanmar. Credits for information from Lonely Planet, Myanmar (Burma). For even more info read Lonely Planet, Myanmar (Burma), 2005. Thank you.