Thingyan or A.K.A Water festival in Myanmar!
The public holiday is official from Monday to Wednesday 15th to 17th of April but the festival started from Friday. It is the Buddhist New Year festival in Myanmar.
As a foreigner, it was advised from my colleagues that I really NEED TO STOCK UP the food during the festive season because very few stores or shops are open to sell grocery. Actually the most of shops are closed and there’s a web page informing people which bars and restaurants are open during the public holiday. Streets are full of people dancing, splashing water at each other, smiling, and singing. By the way, don’t get offended if you get yourself wet or get splashed by someone. Go with the flow and the spirit of the festival.
Happy New Year everyone!
Just for your information, explanation about Thingyan in Wikipedia;
Thingyan (Burmese: သင်္ကြန်; MLCTS: sangkran, [θɪ́ɴdʑàɴ]; Arakanese: [θɔ́ɴkràɴ]; from Sanskrit saṁkrānti, which means “transit [of the Sun from Pisces to Aries]”[1]) is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. The dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar. The dates of the festival are observed as public holidays throughout Myanmar, and are part of the summer holidays at the end of the school year. Water-throwing or dousing one another from any shape or form of vessel or device that delivers water is the distinguishing feature of this festival and may be done on the first four days of the festival.
Thingyan is comparable to other festivities in the region such as the Songkran in Laos, the Songkran in Thailand, the Cambodian New Year, the Sinhalese New Year and the Bihu festival of Assam.