Page 44 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

42 BASICS OutdOOr activities and spOrts
THE BURMESE BUDDHIST CALENDAR
the Burmese Buddhist calendar, like the Western calendar, has twelve months, consisting
alternately of 29 and 30 days (each equivalent to a lunar month), totalling 354 days. Leap years
(of either 384 or 385 days, featuring a second Waso month) are inserted roughly every four
years in order to keep lunar and solar cycles in sync. the twelve months (corresponding,
extremely roughly, to the Western January, February and so on) are: pyatho, tabodwe,
tabaung, tagu, Kason, nayon, Waso, Wagaung, tawthalin, thadingyut, tazaungmone and
nadaw).

well as appearances by Myanmar’s colourful nat during which Inle Lake’s Pa-O community release hundreds of
kadaw (see box, p.49). Major nat pwè festivals are giant paper balloons, often designed in the shape of animals such
held at Mount popa and at a number of places as ducks, dragons and elephants, amid a great barrage of fireworks
around Mandalay including Mingun, taungbyone (see box, p.264).
and amarapura (p.298). Tazaungdaing (aka Tazaungmone) Festival of Lights
Festival dates are set according to the Buddhist Countrywide; Nov. Held on the full-moon night of the Buddhist
lunar calendar, typically shifting by a week or two month of Tazaungmone and celebrating the end of the rainy season.
year on year (with the exception of the thingyan Streets, homes and pagodas are brilliantly illuminated and offerings
Festival, which has now been given fixed dates). are made to monasteries, with triangular wooden frames erected
Public holidays are listed under “travel essentials” around towns and along roadsides to which devotees pin banknotes
(see p.51). and attach other gifts to be handed over to local monks. In some
places (particularly Taunggyi) hot-air balloons illuminated with
FESTIVAL CALENDAR candles are released, while special robe-weaving competitions (the
The following is a short list of countrywide festivals or local festivals biggest at Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda) are also held at shrines
of national significance; other local festivals are covered throughout countrywide, with young women attempting to weave a new
the Guide. monastic robe in the course of a single night.
Naga New Year Northwest Myanmar; Jan 15. A unique festival in
Myanmar’s remote Naga tribal districts, during which all Naga tribes
converge to celebrate the harvest and welcome in the new year with Outdoor activities
dancing and singing. A rare and remarkable glimpse into a vanishing
world, to which some operators (see p.25) run tours. and sports
Shwedagon Pagoda Festival Yangon; two weeks in Feb/
March. Myanmar’s largest pagoda festival, during which pilgrims With its wide-open spaces, lakes, hills,
descend on the great pagoda from all over the country to make mountains and thousands of kilometres
offerings, accompanied by pwè dancing and theatre, robe-weaving of coast, Myanmar is a potential gold
competitions and more. mine of adventure tourism. It remains
Thingyan Water Festival Countrywide; April 13–16. The mother largely unexploited, although a few
of all national festivals, for which the entire country more or less shuts places in the hills lure visitors with well-
down for the duration. In theory, the festival is a celebration of the developed trekking networks, and
Burmese New Year and a time to observe and reaffirm one’s Buddhist there’s a decent selection of other
beliefs. In reality, it’s more like an enormous water fight, with children and outdoor activities available, from cycling
hormonal teenagers taking to the streets and dousing one another (and to scuba-diving.
anyone else nearby, foreigners especially) with huge buckets of water,
and special streetside platforms erected from which revellers hose down Trekking, rock-climbing and
passing motorists, accompanied by deafening music. mountaineering
Thadingyut Festival of Lights Countrywide; three days in Oct.
After Thingyan, the second-biggest national festival, celebrating the end the most popular outdoor activity in Myanmar is
of Buddhist Lent and the descent of the Buddha from heaven after undoubtedly trekking, which offers the chance to
preaching to the gods. Events are held at pagodas across Myanmar experience the country’s superb landscapes while
(particularly in Yangon and at Inle Lake), along with food stalls galore and interacting with local people, particularly minority
performances of traditional drama and dance, while locals fill their ethnic groups. the hike from Kalaw to inle Lake (see
houses with lanterns and candles. box, p.243) remains enduringly popular, though
Taunggyi Fire-Balloon Festival Inle Lake; one week in Oct or there are numerous other possibilities for trekking
Nov. A local offshoot of the Tazaungdaing Festival (see above), around Kalaw, pindaya and inle Lake, hikes among

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