Feature: Preparations for water festival in full swing in Myanmar

Feature: Preparations for water festival in full swing in Myanmar
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-12 10:23:00
By Feng Yingqiu

YANGON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- People are seen in a rush manner going here and there in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon. Roadside stalls are filled with water throwing plastic guns on sale, surrounded by customers, especially the young ones. Noise through hammering nails into timber frames for erecting water throwing pandals and entertainment stages is heard everywhere and music played through loudspeakers on some cars passing by signals that across-country festive event is going to take place.

These are part of the scenes visible in these days before the fall of Myanmar's traditional Thingyan water festival on Monday.

Singers and dancers from the cultural sphere are devoted to their rehearsals to give performances and reveler groups are seeking open-roof vehicles at any cost for driving around to enjoy water throwing in the festive days.

All such preparations are gearing for the atmosphere of the biggest seasonal event in the country to a certain height.

This year's Myanmar traditional Thingyan water festival runs for four days from Monday to Thursday (April 13 to 16) before the new year day ushers in on Friday (April 17) according to the Myanmar lunar calendar. People are also getting a 10-day-long holidays to be spent for the traditional festival.

The Myanmar water festival represents a unique and entertaining event, and people of all ages, especially the young ones, have been planning actually since a fortnight ago how to spend the 10-day long holidays.

With about 150 big and small water throwing pandals and entertainment stages being set up one after another on the platforms of roads as in the previous years, traditional dances will be performed by dancing troupes of young women backed by Myanmar traditional music, while some pandals will feature Westernmusic and modern dancing, organizers said.

The open-air Yangon Mayor's water-throwing pandal, which is thecentral and the biggest one in the city, has been erected and be inaugurated on Monday afternoon, the 13th, to mark the set-in of the water festival.

Under man-made rain shower sweeping the large crowd of audiences and merry-makers, the opening ceremony of the Yangon Mayor Pandal with a brief greeting speech traditionally delivered by the mayor, will be highlighted by performances of traditional dances by dozens of selected beautiful young girls in colorful festive dresses.

So far, about dozens of special water throwing pandals along the famous Inya Road and Kaba Aye Pagoda Road have emerged as in the previous years where water throwing commercial services will be competitively offered by such pandals as Alpine Drinking Water,T-Home Electronics, Emerald and Uranium Dance Group.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay will highlight this year's water festival in a grandest-ever scale as it coincides with the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the city.

Most of the pandals and stages lie as usual around the canal ofthe Royal Palace of the Mandalay city, while the others will be located in downtown areas.

The city's top music band, Myoma, and other top vocalists especially from Yangon as well as numerous local Myanmar traditional orchestra will mainly stage performances at the Mandalay Mayor's water-throwing pandal, which is to be inauguratedon Mondat afternoon with dances performed by nearly 1,000 school children from 12 middle and high schools and the event will be aired live by the Mandalay FM Radio.

This year's Mandalay Mayor's Office Pandal is being built on the basis of Mandalay cultural design which wins the first prize through contests sponsored to mark Mandalay's 150th anniversary.

Mandalay, which boasts the cultural center of Myanmar and the business center in the north, is also featured by procession of decorated floats in the evening during the water festival.

Rich with cultural heritage, Mandalay, also known as Yadanabon, was historically built by King Mindon in 1897, standing as the last royal capital of Myanmar.

Among Myanmar's 12 seasonal festivals throughout the year, the Thingyan water festival represents the grandest which brings peace and prosperity to the entire people.

Meanwhile, three major state-run daily newspapers will publish in turns during the water festival, while all private-run weekly news journals announced respective closure for at least two weeks for the long holidays until after the new year days.

The media are calling on revelers to join in the festival happily by dousing each other with cool water upholding the country's fine culture and traditions.