Shwesandaw Pagoda festival in Pyay, Myanmar

Pagoda festivals ( my, ဘုရားပွဲ; ''paya pwe'') are regular festivals found throughout Burma (Myanmar) that commemorate major religious events in pagoda's history, including the founding of a pagoda and the crowning of the pagoda's hti (umbrella). Pagoda festivals are dictated by the Burmese religious calendar and often are held several days at a time. Major events in a pagoda festival typically do not coincide with Uposatha (Buddhist Sabbath) days, during which pious Buddhists observe the Eight Precepts. The majority of pagoda festivals are held during the dry season, from the months of Tazaungmon (November) to

Tabaung Tabaung ( my, တပေါင်း) is the twelfth and final month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Festivals and observances *Tabaung Festival (Magha Puja) - full moon of Tabaung * Sand Pagoda Festival () *28 Pagoda Parade Festival, Pyinman ...

(March). During the full moon day of

(

Magha Puja Magha (māgha, माघ or maghā, मघा) may refer to: * Magha (month) (māgha, माघ), a month in the Hindu calendar * Magh (Bengali calendar), the same month in the Bengali calendar * Magha (poet) (māgha, माघ), an 8th-century San ...

), Buddhist devotees in various parts of Myanmar also celebrate

sand pagoda Sand pagodas ( my, သဲပုံစေတီ; th, พระเจดีย์ทราย, also known as sand stupas), are temporary pagodas or stupas erected from mud or sand as a means of cultivating Buddhist merit. The practice is common to ...

festivals. More well-known pagoda festivals often attract numerous pilgrims from throughout the country. Pagoda festivals are similar in nature to agricultural shows (country fairs) or

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

s, and form a significant important part of cultural life, particularly in the countryside. During pagoda festivals, temporary

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...

s (including food stalls and merchandise stands), entertainment venues (including anyeint dramas,

yoke the A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, us ...

performances,

lethwei Lethwei ( my, လက်ဝှေ့; IPA: ) or Burmese boxing, is a full contact combat sport from Myanmar that uses stand-up striking including headbutts. Lethwei is considered to be one of the most brutal martial arts in the world, * * * a ...

matches, and arcades) are set up in the vicinity of the pagoda.

Major pagoda festivals

*Shwe Settaw Pagoda Festival (Minbu Township, Magwe Region) - Tabodwe to

* Ananda Temple Festival (

Bagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...

, Mandalay Region) - Pyatho * Shwezigon Pagoda Festival (

, Mandalay Region) - * Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda Festival (Kyaikhto,

Mon State Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to the ...

) - Nadaw * Shwedagon Pagoda Festival ( Yangon, Yangon Region) -

*Alaungdaw Kathapa Pagoda Festival ( Sagaing Region) - Tabodwe *Shwe Sayan Pagoda Festival ( Thaton,

) - *Shwesayan Pagoda Festival (

Patheingyi Township Patheingyi Township ( my, ပုသိမ်ကြီးမြို့နယ်, ) is located in the eastern part of Mandalay, Myanmar. The township is bounded by Aungmyethazan Township and Chanayethazan Township in the west. Incorporated into ...

, Mandalay Region) -

*Myathalun Pagoda Festival ( Magwe Region) - Thadingyut * Shite-thaung Temple Festival ( Mrauk U, Rakhine State) - * Hpaung Daw U Pagoda Festival ( Shan State) - Thadingyut * Kyaikkhauk Pagoda Festival ( Thanlyin Township, Yangon Region) - Tabodwe * Shwesandaw Pagoda Festival (

Twante Township Twante Township also Twantay Township ( my, တွံတေး မြို့နယ်, ) is a township in the Yangon Region of Burma (Myanmar). It is located west across the Hlaing River from the city of Yangon. The principal town and administr ...

, Yangon Region) - Tagu *

Botahtaung Pagoda The Botataung Kyaik De Att Pagoda ( my, ဗိုလ်တထောင်ကျိုက်ဒေးအပ်ဆံတော်ရှင်စေတီတော် ; also spelled Botahtaung; literally "1000 military officers") is a famous pagoda ...

Festival ( Yangon) - Nadaw *

Mawtinzun Pagoda Mawtinzun Pagoda ( my, မော်တင်စွန်းဘုရား), officially known as the Mahāmakuṭaraṃsi Hsandawshin Myat Mawtin Pagoda ( my, မဟာမကုဋရံသီဆံတော်ရှင် မြတ်မော� ...

Festival (

Ngapudaw Township Ngapudaw Township or Ngaputaw Township ( my, ငပုတောမြို့နယ်) is a township of Pathein District in the Ayeyarwady Division of Myanmar. There are a town, a subtownship, 3 wards, 38 village-tracts and 174 villages in 2011. ...

Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Region ( my, ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division), is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bor ...

) -

* Shwemawdaw Pagoda Festival ( Bago) - Tagu

References

Buddhist festivals Festivals in Myanmar {{Festival-stub

Major pagoda festivals

See also

References