The Gon Shans Also Celebrate Thingyan

Up on the hazy blue mountains of Eastern Myanmar live the Gon Shan people. Most of them live around Kyaing Tong and that is where the Gon Shan Thingyan(New Year) is normally celebrated.

The story goes that once upon a time there was a very beautiful princess but she was very active sexually. And because of that there was much fighting and sorrow among the people. But when she died, and because of her bad behaviours while a human, she re-incarnated as a frog. Every year at this time of the year she must be married to the King of the Celestial Beings to satisfy her lust and so bring about good rains for the harvest.

The town folks of Kyaing Tong still follow the traditions to this day. On the eve of Thingyan the Auspicious Red Drum is hung in the town centre. It must be beaten the whole 24 hours but only by the members of a particular family which has been doing this as a tradition for generations. Then someone from another family, which had performed this task for generations also, is dressed up as the Thagyamin(King of the Celestial Beings). On the appointed day (normally the last day of Thingyan), the procession, led by the monks and the Thagyamin, winds its way towards the nearby river where a clay statute of the frog princess waits for their arrival. The town folks follow the monks and the Thagyamin and also carry with them a papier mache Thagyamin on a palanquin. On the banks of the river the papier mache Thagyamin and the clay frog princess are symbolically wedded and the procession returns to town and after the customary chanting of Buddhist mantras and sutras the monks the ceremony ends.

photos: Sonny Nyein(Swiftwinds)