It’s New Year in South-East Asia too

In Myanmar people are celebrating Thingyan; in Thailand it is the Songkran; in Laos, it is the Pimayu; Cambodians have their own name for the festival. Whatever name they may use, it is the same festival. Like us, they too are today celebrating the dawn of a new year, each country in its own special way.

As you read on, you will see what customs and rites we have in common and the differences. Some are in marked contrast to ours.

In all these countries, the New Year festival is a three-day festival, culminating on New Year’s Day, April 13. It is only in Laos that people consult the astrologer to find out when the old year ends and the new year begins. Like us, they too have a nonagathey, a gap in time between the close of the old year and the dawn of the new year.

The year ends when the Queen of that year departs. This is the Departure Day. On that day people hurriedly prepare to receive the new queen. Houses are cleaned, walls scrubbed from ceiling to floor and the entire compound cleaned.

On the second day, which is like our nonagathey, people are without a guardian. So they avoid any act that would cause harm or injury.

On the third day, the new Queen comes, ushering in the new year, and all are happy. People flock to the temple to offer food and flowers and pass on the merit to the new Queen, thanking her for the good luck she has brought.

In all these countries, the temple is the focus of the new year celebrations. Bathing the Buddha image and cleaning the temple compound is done before New Year’s day as in Laos and in Thailand. In Laos they go to the temple with bowls of scented water to help bhikkhus wash the Buddha images.

In Myanmar, it is when gongs and drums announce the dawn of the new year that people go to the temple, to bathe the Buddha images. Sometimes, men, women and children go in a procession led by a troupe of drummers. This is their first public act for the new year.

The pious and some of the elderly are already there. They are observing the Uposatha, the eight precepts as on full moon days.

Religious rites

In Cambodia, the temple has been cleaned and decorated with flowers and creepers and a special dais(raised platform) set up for the bhikkhu, who will be having religious discussions with devotees.

While the elders are having a friendly chat with the bhikkhu, or listening to him explain some point in the Dhamma, children are enjoying themselves elsewhere in the temple compound, making sand castles like those you make on the beach - and decorating them with flowers and small flags, and making new year wishes. In Laos too, this is a common sight in temple compounds on new year’s day.

In Thailand on new year’s day, young and old dressed in new clothes go to their wat (temple) and offer food to the monks. While the monks partake of the food, music is played to celebrate the dawn of the new year.

Water revelry throwing water on each other is an important and popular item on the new year festival in all these countries in South East Asia, making it a merry and even boisterous festival, and it lasts three days.

Wherever one is in Yangoon in Myanmar or in Thailand or Cambodia or Laos, one cannot escape being drenched; but being the hottest part of the year, to be drenched is a pleasure. It is refreshing. In the countryside of Myanmar - north of Yangoon and inland, water is scarce. So there is no water-throwing. Instead, people meeting friends and relations, sprinkle a little water usually on the nape of the neck, from a bowl with a twig.

This, they say, is a symbolic act - cleansing the body and mind of all the evils of the past.

Releasing cattle, birds and fish from captivity is an item common to Myanmar and Thailand and it is considered a specially meritorious act. In Myanmar, cattle and fish are released while in Thailand, they release fish and birds.

In Paklat near Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, beautifully dressed girls go in procession to the river, carrying bowls with fish and release them into the river. In towns, birds and fish are bought in the markets.

In the countryside, especially in the central plains of Thailand, farmers catch small fish left in pools of water after the heavy rains and keep them in their homes. At Songkran - the new year festival - they are released into canals and streams.

Offering a sheaf of betel is our way of paying our respects to parents, grandparents and elders at new year. In Thailand, when the children return home from the temple, they pour scented water on the hands of their parents and elders as a mark of respect and to get their blessings. In Laos, the children sprinkle scented water.

I was told by a young girl from Kahatagasdigiliya in the Anuradhapura district, that when married sons and daughters visit parents, nephews and nieces and uncles and aunts at new year, they take with them a bottle of milk, with which they wash the feet of parents, uncles and aunts first, and then offer the sheaf of betel.

In Myanmar, sons and daughters who have left the parental home, come with gifts of fruits, to pay their respects and get the parents’ blessing. They also visit their teachers taking gifts of fruits.

New Year is the time for traditional games. In Cambodia, each region has its own games, and some are played only at new year. The tug o’war is one of the most popular. In Cambodia, the usual rope takes the form of a serpent. The Naga or serpent has a special place in Cambodian mythology.

The leaders of the two sides - one male, one female - are chosen and the tug o’war begins. There is shouting and cheering as the two sides tug the serpent rope. Who will win? The male team doesn’t win every time.

- Sumana Saparamadu