This Buddhist ceremony is held at the ancient pagoda complex annually. The complex comprises of thousands of stupas. It is located on a canal away from the main body of Inle lake and surrounded by bamboo forests.

source: Magical Myanmar

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Four of the Hpaung Daw Oo Pagoda’s five Buddha images are carried on a golden barge to spend the night at villages around Inle Lake. Their arrival at the villages is greeted with ceremonies and rejoicing. Thousands of people from communities around the lake and villages in the surrounding mountains carry offerings of fruit and flowers on lacquer trays in boats and pay homage as the holy barge passes. Teams of the lake’s famous leg-rowers compete in annual boat races and it is the one and only place in the world.

One significant of its festivities is the procession of four Buddha images, flanked and followed by more than two dozen longboats that are paddled by  literally hundreds of boatmen around the Inle Lake, a large area of freshwater popular with local travelers as well as those from many foreign countries.

The festivities take 18 days, beginning of end of September and wrapping them up in early October. Most of the year, the images together with the fifth one are enshrined at the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda or temple in Nyaung Shwe township, Taunggyi  District. During the procession, the four images deformed with heavy applies of gold leaves over by devotees stop each and every village in and along the Lake’s shores in order to allow villagers to pay homage to.

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The festival is celebrated, like other pagoda festivals in Myanmar, at Mya-Tha-Lon pagoda, which is situated on the bank of Ayeyarwaddy River, in Magway. Always start from the 10th of Thi-din-kyut for 20 days, the festival is alive with the mass of people who are offering nutrients to Buddhist monks as well as 9000 oil lamps to the pagoda, and the view of those enormous lamps creates the implausible beauty of the pagoda together with the pleasant night scenes of the Ayeyarwaddy. Massive crowd, Burmese conventional operas and many shops along the lane near the pagoda bestow participants’ unforgettable motion and experiences.

Kyauktawgyi Paya Festival is one of the largest festivals in Mandalay usually held in October and locals and foreign visitors are crowded at such a time. This festival usually begins one day before the fullmoon day of Thadingyut and its focus is a huge Buddha image carved from a block of marble. This festival is for all pagodas at the foot of Mandalay Hill with a multitude of stalls, especially Zat entertainment, the offering of filled alms bowls to thousands of monks. The festival coincides with an annual competition among teams of cane-ball(chinlon) players.

Dancing Elephant Festival is one of the famous festivals in Myanmar. It is held in Kyaukse surrounded by paddy fields and 30 miles (50 km) to the south of Mandalay. Elephant dance competition is celebrated at annual Light Festival on full moon day of Thadingyut mostly in October. Competition of decorated cloth elephant dancing with two men inside, giving the gold prize to the winner.

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Manuha pagoda festival is one of the famous festivals in Bagan. The festival is held annually one day before the Full Moon Day of Tawtalin. The Myinkaba region dwellers donate rice cakes and pickled winter melon to the visitors during the festival.

Thadingyut is the seventh month of the Myanmar calendar (roughly coinciding with October). Monks who spend three months of lent, from the full moon day of Wazo to the full moon day of Thadingyut, at their monasteries can now travel freely to spread the Teachings of the Lord Buddha. Thus, the Thadingyut festival marks the end of Lent and is one of the biggest festivals on the Buddhist calendar.

This festival commemorates the time when the Buddha returned to earth after preaching in the abode of celestials during the three months of lent. He descended at night and devotees greeted Him with lamps and lanterns. People light candles around their houses and in the streets and homes are decorated with colourful lights. Pagodas, houses, public buildings, parks and monuments are all illuminated and there are various activities for everyone to enjoy.

A tradition of Thadingyut, or October is that younger members of the family or the office or schools pay obeisance(Kadaw) to their elders and teachers. They pay obeisance by kneeling on the floor, holding their joined palms to the forehead bending odwn three times to touch the floor, in the same manner as respect is paid to an image of the Buddha. This ritual is also performed on the traditional New Year, which falls in April. It is normal for children to ‘Kadaw’  their parents every night before they go to bed or before leaving on a journey.

The festival is celebrated, like other pagoda festivals in Myanmar, at Mya-Tha-Lon pagoda, which is situated on the bank of Ayeyarwaddy River, in Magway. Always start from the 10th of Thi-din-kyut for 20 days, the festival is alive with the mass of people who are offering nutrients to Buddhist monks as well as 9000 oil lamps to the pagoda, and the view of those enormous lamps creates the implausible beauty of the pagoda together with the pleasant night scenes of the Ayeyarwaddy. Massive crowd, Burmese conventional operas and many shops along the lane near the pagoda bestow participants’ unforgettable motion and experiences.

The festival includes a Ma Tho Thingan (weaving competition for special yellow monks’ robes) for Maha Ant Htoo Kan Thar Pagoda, the donation of 9000 oil lamps, drone duels and flower shows, games and other entertainment.

Hot-air balloon festival is held one week before the full-moon day of Tazaungmone. This festival is very well-known as one of the most famous festival in country.During the festival, giant hot air balloons of various colors and shapes are sent up to the sky. Young people of Taunggyi of crazy about competing in the festival.

Teams from various towns and villages make balloons out of cloth and paper in the shape of birds or animals for the daytime competitions,  and those decorated with tails of small paper lanterns for night. Before setting them off, the teams carry their balloon around town to show off with dance and music. On the night of the full-moon the townsfolk parade around town carrying lanterns and offerings to be placed at the pagoda.

Also known as Tazaungdaing Fire Balloon Festival, the daytime competitions are for balloons made in animal or bird shapes and at night fire balloons are decorated with strings of lanterns or designs made of lights. The balloons have a bamboo frame over which hand-made paper is glued. The hot air is generated by burning rags under the opening. Balloons are judged for size, style, design and the time they remain aloft. On the night of the full-moon Taunggyi townsfolk hold a parade around  the town carrying colorful lanterns.

Yearly festival of shwezigon pagoda is celebrated on the fullmoon day of Tazaungmone and it is one of the most famous and liveliest pagoda festivals in Bagan. The festival has been held since the Bagan dynasty. On the full moon day, there is a ritual of offering a filled alms bowl to a thousand and more monks and novices. Lacquerware, glazed pots and hand woven cotton blankets are sold by villagers living in the region at this great country fair.

The Thanboddhay padoga in Monywa is the only pagoda with this unique shape in the whole country and one of the most intricately decorated temples in the country with an extensive use of vibrant colors housing over 500,000 different Buddha images, row upon row in ascending tiers in niches along the walls.

The pagoda was started on 20th June 1939 and completed on 2nd March 1952. During the second World War thousands of people trying to get away from the war lived on the temple grounds.

If you can go at the beginning of the Myanmar month of Tazaungmone ( usually around November) the pagoda festival is held with musical performances, dancing, lots of food and vendors selling their wares. The villagers from all around come to enjoy the music and dancing. and buy from the various stalls set up by sellers from all over the country.

Myanmar Thanaka, sandalwood and textiles such as cotton blankets and longyi are sold at the various stalls around the area.

The Thanboddhay is just a few kilometers away from the giant Buddhas of the Maha Bodhi Ta Htaung monastery.

In offering robes to the Monks, there is no restriction on when robes should be offered but Mathoe Robe has a special significance. Mathoe robe means the weaving of the robe must be completed and must be offered to the Buddha before dawn. It becomes an unsuccessful work if the weaving of the robes is delayed. Story is that the Buddha would soon renunciate, the Buddha’s mother, Maya, who had been reborn in the Tavatimsa heaven, spent the entire night weaving yellow monk robes for Buddha. Gotami sister of Maya (Buddha’s aunt) continued this tradition and offered new robes annually. In this way robes weaving contests are celebrating in all over Myanmar. During these competitions, contestants work nonstop from night until dawn to weave these garments.

The most significant Mathoe robes weaving contests in Myanmar is the one which celebrated on the Great Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. Around nine teams of 60 religious associations of the Shwedagon Pagoda usually join in the contests in the evening of the eve of the the full moon day of month Tazaungmone. Each contesting team has six members including the team leader. When the contests stop at 10 P.M, the team which can finish earliest and which can weave the best quality is chosen by judges as the winner and are given the prizes. This ceremony is not only portrays good deeds of Myanmar people but also encourage the act of traditional weaving.

This ceremony will be held around mid of Nov for a couple of days. There will be a market full of herbal leaves, roots, fruits, barks, thorns, tubers and stems of any herbal value from the western wildness of Chindwin River which is sold on the large scale.

Kaunghmudaw pagoda festival is one of the famous pagodas in central Myanmar. The festival where the caravan of bullock carts in the pagoda compound carrying their village products such as hand-woven cotton cloths and handmade mats.

On the platform of the Kyalk-hti-yo   ‘Golden Rock’ Pagoda devotees light nine thousand lamps to welcome the New Year and to give thanks to Buddha’s peaceful philosophy. The magical Golden Rock Pagoda, a golden spire, sits on top a huge boulder covered with gold leaf and perched on the edge of cliff.