Thingyan Essay

Thingyan (သင်္ကြန်) is Myanmar New Year Festival and usually falls around mid-April based on Burmese calendar. Festival periods are four to five days and observed as public holidays. Although previous government defines ten days as public holidays for Thingyan, now it becomes five days only by current government. Festive people are going nuts on the streets, dancing and drinking and splashing everyone in sight with buckets of ice-cold water. After ten years away from Thingyan festival, this is the first time I went back for Thingyan and these are how I see what Thingyan is.