page_title: Thingyan
section_title: New Year's Day
hierarchical_section_title: Thingyan / New Year's Day
caption_attribution_description: A pickup truck full of revelers is doused with water on the streets of Taunggyi, Myanmar during the annual Thingyan festival.
context_page_description: Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. The dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar. The dates of the festival are observed as public holidays throughout Myanmar, and are part of the summer holidays at the end of the school year. Water-throwing or dousing one another from any shape or form of vessel or device that delivers water is the distinguishing feature of this festival and may be done on the first four days of the festival. The New Year takes place at virtually the same time as the new year celebrations of many countries in South Asia like China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.
  Thingyan is comparable to other festivities in the region such as the Songkran in Laos, the Songkran in Thailand, the Cambodian New Year, the Sinhalese New Year and the festivals like Vaisakhi, Puthandu, Vishu and Bihu in India.
context_section_description: The following is New Year's Day (နှစ်ဆန်းတစ်ရက်နေ့, hnit hsan ta yet nei). At this time Burmese visit elders and pay obeisance by gadaw (also called shihko) with a traditional offering of water in a terracotta pot and shampoo. Young people perform hairwashing for the elderly often in the traditional manner with shampoo beans (Acacia rugata) and bark. New year's resolutions are made, generally in the mending of ways and doing meritorious deeds for their karma. Releasing fish (ငါးလွှတ်ပွဲ, nga hlut pwè) is another time-honoured tradition on this day; fish are rescued from lakes and rivers that are drying up, then the fish are kept in huge glazed earthen pots and jars before being released into larger lakes and rivers with a prayer and a wish saying "I release you once, you release me ten times". Thingyan (အခါတွင်း, a-hka dwin) is also a common time for shinbyu, novitiation ceremonies for boys in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism when they will join the monks (Sangha) and spend a short time in a monastery immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma. It is akin to rites of passage or coming of age ceremonies in other religions.
  On New Year's Day, people offer food donations called satuditha (စတုဒိသာ) at various places. They typically provide free food to those participating in the new year's celebrations.
caption: A pickup truck full of revelers is doused with water on the streets of Taunggyi, Shan State.
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