Shan State Events and Festivals

Moe-Byae Festival: this three-day festival occurs on the full moon of the Burmese month of Pyatho. The highlight of this traditional festival is a crossbow competition.

Hta-Mané Festival: is named in honour of a traditional dish consisting of glutinous rice, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, coconut and groundnuts. The celebration surrounding this flavourful dish is said to bring good harvests.

Baw-gyo Festival: observed on the 10^th day of the waxing moon during the month of Tabaung, this festival includes boat races on the Dote-hta-wa-di River. This is also a good time to shop for traditional handicrafts.

Pindaya Cave Pagoda Festival: Myanmar's many ethnic tribes come together, each dressed according to their group's traditions, for five days of celebration. This event takes place on the 11^th day of the waxing moon of Tabaung.

Shinbya Ceremony: Myanmar's novice initiation ceremonies are usually held in March, after schools close for summer vacation. Buddhist families traditionally send their sons to a monastery for a few weeks as a kind of rite of passage. The ceremonies, which are a means for families to make merit, see these teenage boys dressed in religious robes and hoisted through the city streets in a small parade.

Pindaya Shwe Oo Min Pagoda Festival: this event is held every year in Pindaya, which is north of Kalaw. Throngs of Buddhist devotees come to visit Shwe Oo Min Pagoda Cave to pay homage to the local shrine. Handicrafts, food and fresh produce are sold at the nearby market.

New Year's Day: in Myanmar, the official dawn of the new falls (according to the Buddhist calendar) is on the third day of Kason's waxing moon. Celebrants make merit by paying homage to their elders, releasing birds and fish and giving alms and food to monks.

Thingyan Festival: the notorious water festival is held at the onset of the Burmese New Year. For the duration of the festival, people all across town are engaged in massive water fights that spare none. Girls playfully tie up boys, cover them in soot and parade them through the streets. Typically, local cattle are dressed up and drummers drive the rhythm of dancers in the streets.

Kason Festival: in honour of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death - all of which are said to have occurred on the same calendar day, adherents pour water on the bo tree, under which Siddhartha first achieved enlightenment. Later in the evening, groups travel to outlying caves and pay homage to the enshrined Buddha statues inside.

Waso Festival: Buddhist Lent begins with a festival that celebrates the Buddha's first sermon. A great deal of attention is focused on monks, as the religious community bestows new robes on them and makes other provisional arrangements to guide them through the coming fast.

Dhama Sakya Day: in commemoration of the Buddha's first sermon, monasteries and pagodas around Myanmar host special ceremonies in which monks deliver sermons, recite ancient Pali scriptures, and enjoy a meal provided by the community.

Phaung Daw Oo Festival: this is the Shan State's most prominent festival. For three weeks during September and October, the entire region dedicates its energy to ushering in the end of the Lent season. Scheduled events include a procession of boats that cart gilded Buddhas around Inle Lake. Crowds of traditionally-dressed participants celebrate with boat races, music and dancing. The celebration is reprised with the Festival of Light as the Lent season ends.

Tazaungdaing Festival: for three days during mid-November, the entire Burmese skyline is transformed as thousands of fire-driven balloons rise over the horizon. These balloons are made from locally-made paper or cloth and are formed in various shapes. An intensely visual festival, the ascending lights are truly mesmerising.

Hot-air Balloon Festival: a six-day competition in early November sees contestants pitting their hand-crafted balloons against one another. Prizes are awarded to the highest-flying balloon as well as to the most creative and beautiful. After sunset, fireworks seize the skies and add the perfect finishing touch to this occasion.

Kahtein Thingan: also known as the Yellow Robe Weaving Festival, this event sees prominent pagodas around the region rally together to weave robes overnight. At dawn, the finished products are dutifully bestowed on statues of the Buddha around the pagodas.

Writer’s Day: well-known Burmese writers are invited to give lectures and read their works. This event is extended over the course of several days and takes place in multiple regional capitals.