Witness Myanmar's Festival Season

The strength of cultural traditions and religion in Myanmar means that there are regular festivals throughout the year, and if you time your visit carefully you can experience authentic ‘Burma' at one of these fascinating spectacles. Early next year there are a number of important festivals starting with the Ananda Temple Festival in Bagan between 12 January and 3 February, with the most significant date being the full moon of Pyatho on 19 January. This is when you will see monks arriving with their alms bowls, local people arriving on bullock carts and a fair with market stalls in front of the temple. On 19 March Myanmar celebrates the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival during which people from all corners of Myanmar converge on the capital with offerings of water, light and flowers made to the hundreds of Buddha images in the pagoda grounds. The third major festival is the Thingyan (Water) Festival, taking place between 13 and 17 April, which heralds the arrival of the New Year and is when the previous year's bad deeds are cleansed with water. Young people go out to enjoy themselves splashing all and sundry whilst the elders take shelter in monasteries and pagoda precincts! If you would like to experience one of these festivals please contact us to create a bespoke tour.