Myanmar traditional New Year Atā Thingyan festival
Inscribed in 2024 (19.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
© Living Myanmar, 2023 Atā Thingyan is a five-day festival that is observed in Myanmar to celebrate the traditional new year. The Myanmar Calendar Advisory Board determines the date on which Thingyan falls each year (typically in mid-April). Each community celebrates the festival in accordance with its traditions and customs, but common activities include pouring water on Buddha images, giving older community members manicures and pedicures, donating food, giving to charity and joining meditation retreats. There are also community-based song and dance performances. Flowers and leaves symbolizing the seven days of the week are arranged in an earthenware vase, which is placed at the front of the house to welcome the new year. People also enjoy pouring water on each other, an act that is believed to bring good fortune through its symbolic cleansing effects. Thingyan is transmitted by participating in the festivities and through media, schools, and regional and state contests. In addition to promoting unity and harmony, the festival represents a symbolic cleansing of the old year’s ‘dirt’, enabling a physical and mental ‘fresh start’. As the entire festival period is a national holiday, many people return to their native towns and villages to reunite with their families and pay homage to their elders.
