Thadingyut Festival

The Thadingyut Festival (Burmese:

သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော် ), also known as the
Lighting Festival of Myanmar, is held on
the full moon day of the Burmese lunar
month of Thadingyut. As a custom, it is
held at the end of the Buddhist sabbath
(Vassa) and is the second most popular
festival in Myanmar after Thingyan
Festival (New Year Water Festival).
Thadingyut festival is the celebration to
welcome the Buddha’s descent from the
heaven after he preached the
Abhidhamma to his mother, Maya, who
was reborn in the heaven.[1]
 Thadingyut Festival
သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော်

Also called Lighting Festival

Observed by Myanmar

Type Buddhist

Date Full moon day of

Thadingyut

Related to Vap Full Moon Poya

(in Sri Lanka)
Wan Ok Phansa (in
Thailand)
Boun Suang Huea (in
Laos) Lhabab
 Duchen (in Tibet and
Bhutan)

Origins
Thadingyut, the seventh month of the
Myanmar calendar, is the end of the
Buddhist sabbath or Vassa. Thadingyut
festival lasts for three days: the day
before the full moon day, the full moon
day (when Buddha descends from
heaven) and the day after the full moon
day. Buddha's mother, Maya, died seven
days after the Buddha was born and then
she was reborn in the Trayastrimsa
Heaven as a male deva.[2]
In order to show the gratitude for
motherhood, Buddha preached
Abhidhamma to that deva who was his
mother for three Lenten months. When
he was descending back to the mortal
world, Sakra-devanam-indra, the ruler of
the Trayastrimsa Heaven, ordered all the
saints and evils to make three precious
stairways.[3] Those stairways were made
of gold, silver and ruby. The Buddha took
the middle one with the ruby. The Nats
(Deva) came along by the right golden
stairways and the Brahmas from the left
silver stairways.
Celebrations
Buddhists celebrate Thadingyut to
welcome the Buddha and his disciples by
enlightening and festooning the streets,
houses and public buildings with colored
electric bulbs or candles, which represent
those three stairways.[4] During
Thadingyut Festival, there are zat pwes
(Myanmar musical plays), free movie
shows and stage shows on most of the
streets around the country. There are
also a lot of food stalls, which sell a
variety of Myanmar traditional foods and
shops, which sell toys, kitchen utensils,
and other useful stuff on most of the
streets. Sometime people just walk
around in those streets just for
sightseeing and have fun. Some people
like to play with firecrackers and fire
balloons.

During the festival days, Buddhists

usually go to pagodas and monasteries
to pay homage to Triple Gems, paying
respect to the monks and offer foods.
And some Buddhists usually fast on the
full moon day. Young people usually pay
respect (gadaw) to their parents,
teachers, and elderly relative and offer
them some fruits and other gifts. Also
while paying homage the younger people
usually ask for forgiveness from the
wrong-doings they have caused upon
their parents or the other elderly relatives
throughout the year. Traditionally the
elders tell their youngsters that they
forgive any of their wrongdoings and
continue to bless them with good luck
and gift some big notes as pocket
money. It is also usual for younger
siblings to pay homage to their older
siblings. In return, the elder ones wish
good luck for them and give them some
pocket money.[5]

Regional traditions
Dawei - Dawei locals hold a thabeik
hmyaw pwe (သပိတ်မျှောပွဲ ), in which
alms bowls filled with offertories (e.g.,
flowers, water, oil lamps, candles and
 joss-sticks) are set adrift at sea to Shin
Upagutta.[6]
Shwegyin - Shwegyin locals hold a mi
hmyaw pwe (မီးမျှောပွဲ ), in which
colorful oil lanterns are set adrift into
the Shwegyin River to Shin Upagutta.[6]
The tradition dates back to the
Konbaung dynasty, established in 1851
(BE 1375).[7]

See also
Myanmar
portal

Gadaw
Kathina
Pavarana
 Uposatha
Tazaungdaing Festival
Wan Ok Phansa, its equivalent in
Thailand
Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival
Vessantara Festival

References
1. "Thadingyut Lighting Festival | Ye Lwin Oo
. Com" (http://yelwinoo.com/festivals-eve
nts/thadingyut-lighting-festival.html) .
Yelwinoo.com. Retrieved 2014-03-05.

2. Shaw, M. (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of

India (pp. 45-46).

3. "Chapter115 Buddha Preached Doctrine

to His Mother-Fascinating Mural Stories
from Dunhuang Grottoes" (https://web.arc
 hive.org/web/20140310105146/http://ww
w.nwp.cn/book/537_26673.shtml) .
Nwp.cn. Archived from the original (http://
www.nwp.cn/book/537_26673.shtml) on
2014-03-10. Retrieved 2014-03-05.

4. "Full moon day of Thadingyut (Lighting

festival)2012 | Myanmar Upper Land" (htt
p://word.myanmarupperland.com/tourism
-news/full-moon-day-of-thadingyut-lightin
g-festival2012/) .
Word.myanmarupperland.com. 2012-10-
30. Retrieved 2014-03-05.

5. "Thadingyut Festival by Htar Htar Wai |

ESL Graduating Class" (https://archive.tod
ay/20130627105100/http://elmonteesl.bl
og.com/2011/12/01/thadingyut-festival-b
y-htar-htar-wai/) . Elmonteesl.blog.com.
2011-12-01. Archived from the original (ht
 tp://elmonteesl.blog.com/2011/12/01/th
adingyut-festival-by-htar-htar-wai/) on
2013-06-27. Retrieved 2014-03-05.

6. Maw Maw Aye (2015). "Preservation of

Dawei People's Traditional Customs" (htt
p://www.burmalibrary.org/docs21/Societ
y%20and%20Culture/Maw-Maw-Aye-2015
-Preservation_of_Dawei_People's_Traditio
nal_Customs-en.pdf) (PDF). University of
Yangon.

7. ပိန်းဇလုပ်သိန်းညွန့် (2013-10-22). "ရွှေကျင်

သီတင်းကျွတ်မီးမျှောပူဇော်ပွဲ အစဉ်အလာမ
ပျက်ကျင်းပ" (https://www.moi.gov.mm/n
pe/?q=news/22/10/2013/id-7272) .
Myanmar News Agency (in Burmese).
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Thadingyut_Festival&oldid=1121826728"

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