This is the biggest and most important pagoda festival in Central and Upper Myanmar. Villagers come to the festival in their decorated bullock carts and camp on the plain for the duration of the festival. The full moon day of the Myanmar month of Pyatho, which falls on January, marks the height of the celebrations, with one thousand monks from a hundred villages in the vicinity arriving to accept offerings of filled alms bowls. With their crops having recently been harvested, farmers have the time and the money to enjoy themselves.

The most popular festival of Kachin ethnic of Myanmar also a new year celebration of Kachin people. Events include like dancing around traditional poles, wearing colourful traditional costumes.

The Manaw festival held in January is the largest and most important annual celebration in Kachin State when people celebrate the new year. People wear their best traditional dress at this time and dance collectively around the tall Manaw poles. The men wear woven shoulder bags and a silver sword in a sheath and women decorate their predominantly red dresses with silver all across the torso. The festival is held in Myitkyina on January.

source: Magical Myanmar

The Naga, one of the over one hundred and fifty different ethnic tribes in Myanmar, lives in the remote area of Northwest Myanmar, Naga celebrates New Year for five days, during the time, they dance, perform, beat their drums, hold the tribal customs until midnight.

Not easily accessible due to rough terrain and a lack of modern infrastructure, the tribes of the Naga national group live in the far northwest near the Indian border. Every January they celebrate their New Year at a festival that brings various Naga tribes together to feast and dance. For the comfort of outside visitors, the festival site has western toilets and electric lights, as well as catered food, which is transported to the festival site to avoid straining the local resources.

There is no stronger demonstration of the diversity of culture than when one sees how many different Naga groups with different costumes, traditions and languages come together in one place.

source: Magical Myanmar

The festival of Mahamuni Pagoda usually last 2 days. It is held on the full moon day of Thabodwe of Burmese calendar. As Mahamuni is one of the most famous pagoda in Myanmar,thousands of Buddhists go there to pay homage.

February is the coldest month in Myanmar and at the Maha Muni Pagoda Festival, devotees light bonfires and cook huge pans of sticky rice with ginger, coconut and sesame to offer to monks. In other parts of the country, this sticky rice is cooked as a celebration of the harvest and distributed within communities. In the evening, you can observe several kinds of entertainment such as Zat, Anyeint and popular movies in the open air. In the daytime, there are many stalls selling various kinds of Myanmar snack and other Myanmar products.

Festival is celebrated at two pagodas which enshrine footprints of the Buddha. The site is on the bank of the Mann Creek, where bamboo cabins are erected every year for revellers to enjoy a cool swim during the heat of summer.

source: Magical Myanmar

It is a famous pagoda festival in Pyin Oo Lwin and several Shan and other ethnic groups from the hills come to sell their products

The festival of Mahamuni Pagoda usually last 2 days. It is held on the full moon day of Thabodwe of Burmese calendar. As Mahamuni is one of the most famous pagoda in Myanmar,thousands of Buddhists go there to pay homage.

February is the coldest month in Myanmar and at the Maha Muni Pagoda Festival, devotees light bonfires and cook huge pans of sticky rice with ginger, coconut and sesame to offer to monks. In other parts of the country, this sticky rice is cooked as a celebration of the harvest and distributed within communities. In the evening, you can observe several kinds of entertainment such as Zat, Anyeint and popular movies in the open air. In the daytime, there are many stalls selling various kinds of Myanmar snack and other Myanmar products.

Festival is celebrated at two pagodas which enshrine footprints of the Buddha. The site is on the bank of the Mann Creek, where bamboo cabins are erected every year for revellers to enjoy a cool swim during the heat of summer.

source: Magical Myanmar

It is a famous pagoda festival in Pyin Oo Lwin and several Shan and other ethnic groups from the hills come to sell their products

Pagoda festival with multitude of stalls, entertainments such as Zats, Anyeints, stage show and movies shown in the open air the whole night coming by ox-carts near villages.

Htamane Festival is a competition between teams of men for the donation of Glutinous Rice to the Lord Buddha and Buddhist monks in the early morning on Full Moon Day. During the festival, cook giant pans of glutinous rice with ginger, coconut, peanuts and lots of sesame, which wrapped in banana leaves and given to neighbours and friends.

This festival takes place in Pa Khan, Yayzagyo township, Magwe division. It is a festival for Nat worshipers who worship Ko Gyi Kyaw Nat a happy spirit who loves to drink and gamble. The attended people sing and dance happily. The event is held in his hometown, Pa Khan, Yayzagyo township.

source: Magical Myanmar

45 minutes drive form Mandalay– Pyin Oo Lwin highway, this pagoda was built bySaw Mon Hla, queen of king Anawrahta, can see Pagan period mural at side pagodas’ walls.one of the King Anawrahta’s wives. Materials made of dried toddy palm leaves and local products are the best selling village products. Young people play water for fun in the Douhtawaddy River. You can also visit the pagodas by taking a small boat.

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This festival takes place in Pa Khan, Yayzagyo township, Magwe division. It is a festival for Nat worshipers who worship Ko Gyi Kyaw Nat a happy spirit who loves to drink and gamble. The attended people sing and dance happily. The event is held in his hometown, Pa Khan, Yayzagyo township.

source: Magical Myanmar

45 minutes drive form Mandalay– Pyin Oo Lwin highway, this pagoda was built bySaw Mon Hla, queen of king Anawrahta, can see Pagan period mural at side pagodas’ walls.one of the King Anawrahta’s wives. Materials made of dried toddy palm leaves and local products are the best selling village products. Young people play water for fun in the Douhtawaddy River. You can also visit the pagodas by taking a small boat.

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Zalun Pyi Taw Pyan pagoda festival is held in a small town named Zalun near the Ayeyarwaddy river. It is a traditional Buddhist harvest festival and many religious Buddhist gather at the pagoda to pay homage and donations.

source: Magical Myanmar

100 miles far from Myintkyina. Yearly this festival is held for ten days. One intriguing fact is that two sandbanks are washed up by the waves before the festival and disappear into the lake shortly after the festival. People believe that one for human and the other for the gods.

Four Buddha Images brought out for display, worship and gilding with gold leaf. Especially Palaung tribes from the hill sell their products. Many kinds of gambling are allowed during the festival days only.

Many stalls selling delicious local food, Shan handicrafts, cheroots, Shan umbrella etc.., joining Shan tribes in their colourful costumes.

There are more than 2000 pagodas from several centuries ago in the complex. Pa-O, Shan and Danu national races come to celebrate this festival.

Traditional Shan festival in the northern part of Pyin Oo Lwin, about an hour drive from the downtown area.

It is one of the most famous pagodas in the region, located in the centre of the Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park in Yinmarbin County, Sagaing State. The festival is held by lighting to the Pagoda in Full Moon Day of Tabaung (March). There are many people from the surrounding area attending the festival. Visitors come here not only to attend the festival, but also to admire the beautiful nature of one of the most famous eco-tourist destinations in Myanmar.

This festival is known to be the most important gathering of witches imaginable. According to the legend, Ye Kin Kadaw, the Queen of the Witches, the favourite wife of King Taung U, had extraordinary powers. The king sent her into exile, as his other wives did not like her supernatural power. She went to Maung Dong, where she got drowned. Her oldest statue, only 30 centimetres high, can thus be found in Maung Dong. During this festival, all 37 kinds of nats will be placed in a shrine, devotees offering them bunches of bananas, green coconuts, betel leaves, colourful arrangements of flowers and ‘money bouquets’.

On the Shwe Bo Road, twelve kilometres north of Monywa, the town of Ah-Lone celebrates its festival in March. The heroine of this festival is Ma Ngwe Daung (Ms Silver Wings) who was a daughter of the Ah-Lone Bodaw, a minor Indian prince who came through Tamu and Kalaymyo to Myanmar. The celebration of this festival is related to the love story of Ma Ngwe Daung. During the festival, the pilgrims appeal to Ma Ngwe Daung to give them the opportunity to have as many mistresses as hairs on their head. The festival appeals also to pilgrims wishing to control or to spirit away illness with the waters on offer there.

Classical theatre troupes perform their best here so they will be booked by agents for the next pagoda festival season.

Classical theatre troupes perform their best here so they will be booked by agents for the next pagoda festival season.

Thingyan is Burmese new year festival usually falls around mid-April, the Burmese month of Tagu. The water festival is held all over the country in a belief of cleansing away the evil deeds in the past year with water.

Same as the other pagoda festival with the exciting traditional boxing show

Kason (May) is the second month in Myanmar calendar and it is the hottest month of the summer, drying up water in lakes, ponds, streams, rivers. “Bodhi” is a Pali word meaning “knowing” or “perceiving”.  devotees regard such trees and forests as sacred and they respect them. Pilgrims pour water on the Bodhi trees which Buddha gained enlightenment under that kind of tree.

Stupas with five segments are built with sand within 01 night. Each layer of white sand is supported by bamboo-mats and -posts

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.

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.

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 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.

Kaung Hmu Daw 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.

Just like most of the pagoda in Myanmar, there are many things to see such as traditional performances, traditional food and snack stalls and magic shows.

Just like most of the pagoda in Myanmar, there are many things to see such as traditional performances, traditional food and snack stalls and magic shows.