The Tazaungdaing Festival ( my, တန်ဆောင်တိုင်ပွဲတော်, also known as the Festival of Lights and spelt Tazaungdine Festival), held on the
full moon day
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...
of
Tazaungmon
Tazaungmon ( my, တန်ဆောင်မုန်း; also spelt Tazaungmone) is the eighth month of the traditional Burmese calendar.
Festivals and observances
* Kahtein (Thadingyut - Tazaungmon)
*Full moon of Tazaungmon
** Tazaungdaing Fest ...
, the eighth month of the
Burmese calendar
The Burmese calendar ( my, မြန်မာသက္ကရာဇ်, , or , ; Burmese Era (BE) or Myanmar Era (ME)) is a lunisolar calendar in which the months are based on lunar months and years are based on sidereal years. The calendar is ...
, is celebrated as a
national holiday in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
and marks the end of the
rainy season
The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* '' ...
.
It also marks the beginning of the
Kathina
Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists in Bangladesh (known as Kaṭhina Cībar Dān), Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Thail ...
(''Kahtein'' in Burmese) season, during which monks are offered new robes and alms.
The festival's origins predate the introduction of Buddhism to Burma, and are believed to stem from the ''Kattika'' festival, which honors the guardian planets in
Indian astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
.
Celebrations
Robe-weaving competitions to weave special yellow
monk robes called ''matho thingan'' () are also held throughout the country, most notably in Yangon's
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
.
During these competitions, held for two consecutive nights (the night preceding and the night of the full moon), contestants work nonstop from night until dawn to weave these garments.
The tradition commemorates a widely known story of the Buddha's life. Seeing that the Buddha would soon renunciate, the Buddha's mother,
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
, who had been reborn in the Tavatimsa heaven, spent the entire night weaving yellow monk robes for him.
Her sister
Gotami (Buddha's aunt) continued this tradition and offered new robes annually.
In many parts of Myanmar,
hot air balloon
A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...
s lit with candles, are released to celebrate the full moon day, similar to
Yi Peng celebrations in Northern Thailand. The balloons are released as an offering to the Sulamani
cetiya
upright=1.25, Phra Pathom Chedi, one of the biggest Chedis in Thailand; in Thai, the term Chedi (cetiya) is used interchangeably with the term Stupa
Cetiya, "reminders" or "memorials" (Sanskrit ''caitya''), are objects and places used by Buddhi ...
in
Tavitisma, a heaven in Buddhist cosmology and home of the
deva
Deva may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film
* ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film
* ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film
* Deva (2007 Telugu film)
* ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film
* Deva ...
s, or as a way to drive away evil spirits. Among Tazaungdaing festivals,
Taunggyi
Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth la ...
's hot-air balloons and firework-launching competition is the most prominent festival. The origin of Taunggyi's hot-air balloons contest dates back to 1894, when the British first held hot air balloon competitions in Taunggyi, soon after the
annexation of
Upper Burma
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
.
Alms-giving and charity, both religious and secular, including ''
satuditha'' feasts (စတုဒိသာ), are also commonly undertaken during this festival, as a means of merit-making. Others return home to pay homage to elders (''
gadaw
Gadaw ( my, ကန်တော့, ; also spelt kadaw) is a Burmese verb referring to a Burmese tradition in which a person, always of lower social standing, pays respect or homage to a person of higher standing (including Buddhist monks, elders, ...
'') and visit pagodas. Many concerts and other secular festivities, such as live performances of traditional dramas like the
Yama Zatdaw
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...
, are also held between Thadingyut (the end of the
Buddhist lent
The ''Vassa'' ( pi, vassa-, script=Latn, sa, varṣa-, script=Latn, both "rain") is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners. Taking place during the wet season, Vassa lasts for three lunar months, usually from July ...
) and Tazaungdaing.
In pre-colonial times, the Burmese court celebrate five parishad Or pravarana day from ancient times 15th day of kartik month to the full moon day mentioned in I tsing Chinese notes.
On the eighth waning day of that month, after a procession to the king, 8
pyatthat
Pyatthat ( my, ပြာသာဒ်, ; from Sanskrit ; mnw, တန်ဆံၚ် ; also spelt pyathat) is the name of a multistaged roof, with an odd number of tiers (from three to seven). The pyatthat is commonly incorporated into Burmese B ...
structures made of bamboo were burned.
In
Burmese tradition, during the full moon day of
Tazaungmon
Tazaungmon ( my, တန်ဆောင်မုန်း; also spelt Tazaungmone) is the eighth month of the traditional Burmese calendar.
Festivals and observances
* Kahtein (Thadingyut - Tazaungmon)
*Full moon of Tazaungmon
** Tazaungdaing Fest ...
, Burmese families pick Siamese cassia buds and prepare it in a salad called ''mezali phu thoke'' (မယ်ဇလီဖူးသုပ်) or in a soup. On this night, young men celebrate a custom called "kyimano pwe" (ကျီးမနိုးပွဲ, lit. "Don't wake the crows up"), by practicing mischief on their neighbors, by stealing or playing tricks on them.
Regional traditions
* Residents of Madauk,
Nyaunglebin Township
Nyaunglebin Township ( my, ညောင်လေးပင်မြို့နယ်) is a township situated in Bago District, Bago Region of Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventi ...
and
Pathein celebrate with a ''mi hmyaw pwe'' (မီးမျှောပွဲ).
* Residents of
Dawei
Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
hold a procession of the
28 Buddhas
*Residents of
Mawlamyine
Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
,
Kyaikkhami
Kyaikkhami ( Mon: ; ; pronounced ; th, เชียงกราน, formerly Amherst) is a resort town within Thanbyuzayat township in the Mon State of south-east Myanmar.
The town is situated on a peninsula about south of Mawlamyine, the ...
and other coastal towns in
Mon State, Lower Myanmar hold a s''wam oo hmyaw pwe'', in which
earthenware bowls filled with offertories such as flowers, fruits, vegetarian desserts, candles and joss-sticks are set adrift at sea to the arahat
Shin Upagutta
Shin Upagutta ( my, ရှင်ဥပဂုတ္တ or ; also spelt Shin Upagot, Shin Upagote or Shin U Pagoke) is an arahant commonly venerated by Buddhists in Myanmar. He is believed to protect worshipers from danger, including floods and s ...
at the
dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...
.
See also
*
Pavarana Pavarana ( sa, Pravāraṇā) is a Buddhist holy day celebrated on Aashvin full moon of the lunar month. It marks the end of the 3 lunar months of Vassa, sometimes called "Buddhist Lent." The day is marked in some Asian countries where Theravada B ...
*
Kathina
Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists in Bangladesh (known as Kaṭhina Cībar Dān), Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Thail ...
*
Vassa
The ''Vassa'' ( pi, vassa-, script=Latn, sa, varṣa-, script=Latn, both "rain") is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners. Taking place during the wet season, Vassa lasts for three lunar months, usually from July ...
*
Wan Ok Phansa
Wan Ok Phansa ( th, วันออกพรรษา, ; literally "day of going out of Vassa", ออก in Thai meaning exit or leave) is the last day of the Thai- Lao observance of Vassa. It occurs in October, three lunar months after the begi ...
*
Thadingyut Festival
The Thadingyut Festival ( my, သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော်), also known as the Lighting Festival of Myanmar, is held on the full moon day of the Burmese lunar month of Thadingyut. As a custom, it is held at the end of t ...
*
Bon Om Tuk, Cambodian equivalent of Tazaungdaing
*
Loi Krathong
Loy Krathong ( th, ลอยกระทง, , ) is a Thai festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand and in nearby countries with significant South Western Tai cultures (Laos, Shan, Mon, Tanintharyi, Kelantan, Kedah, and Xishuangbanna) ...
, Thai and Lao equivalent of Tazaungdaing
*
Vessantara Festival
References
{{Public holidays in Myanmar
Buddhist festivals in Myanmar
Buddhist holidays
November observances
Observances set by the Burmese calendar
Observances held on the full moon