Happy Thadingyut Festival!

Last week, October 23-25, was the Thadingyut Festival in Myanmar. It's also known as the Lighting Festival and happens over the full moon every October. It's the second biggest festival (the biggest is the Water Festival in April) and is supposed to celebrate Buddha’s descent from heaven after he preached the Abhidhamma to his mother who was reborn in heaven (thanks Wikipedia). Because its the Lighting Festival, everyone decorates their balconies with different kinds of lights - it's almost like Christmas at home!

Most of the country had all three days off as a public holiday, but we only got the 24th since we work for an international organization. But, I'll take what I can get. It did mean it was a little lonely in the expat world since most people took off the week and went travelling, but Evelyn and I made the most of it.

On Tuesday night Evelyn and I headed to the Yae Kyaw Night Market.  Streets near the market were shut down and packed with people. Vendors were selling everything from food, clothing, dvds, and TATTOOS! Lots of people had light up headbands or balloons. The street food was all very tempting, but we decided it was probably not worth the risk, so we passed. The coolest part was the HUMAN POWERED FERRIS WHEELS that some of you may or may not have seen on Parts Unknown (and other rides, like the classic giant ship swing from the Ex).  It was so crowded that if it had been the Ex everyone probably would've started shoving each other when the crowd bottlenecked, but here everyone just patiently waits and slowly moves forward.  So despite all the people, it was pretty calm. 

On Wednesday evening, which was the night of the full moon, Evelyn and I visited the Shwedagon Pagoda near our apartment. For Thadingyut, thousands of people visit the pagoda to light candles, give offerings, visit with friends and family, and, to be honest, take selfies. So many selfies. To be fair, it was beautiful...

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