TAUNGGYI HOTAIR BALLOON FESTIVAL

November is the best time to visit Taunggyi, the capital of Southern Shan State. The Kahtein Holy Robes Presentation Ceremony, the Festival of Lights and the Taunggyi Hotair Balloon Festival occur at the same time on the Fullmoon Day of the Myanmar month of Tazaungmone(November).

As Tazaungmone nears everyone is excited. They are gearing up to compete in the annual Taunggyi Hotair Balloon Festival. The festival is also a competition between the town's various quarters on who can send up the most elaborate and decorated hotair balloons. The competition is divided into 2 parts: the daytime competition and the Nya Mee Gyi or the Big Night Balloons, sent up at night.

The legend goes that Tazaungmone is the fairest of all Myanmar months and the sky is clear. At this time the peole had also finished their harvest and it is time to pay homage to the Sulamuni Pagoda, said to be in the Abode of the Celestial Beings. They construct hotair balloons out of bamboo and locally made mulberry paper(Shan paper) in various shapes and sizes. They most popular would be of course in animal shapes. These are normally sent up during the daytime.The judges would give them points on the originality, the design and the flight characteristics of the competing balloons and decide the winner.

The Nya Mee Gyi balloons are more elaborate. They cost quite a big amount of expenses, some even in hundreds of thousands of Kyats. The organizers bring their contraptions to the competition grounds and set up the balloons to be flown into the night sky. Many are decorated with small lanterns hung on the sides. The judges give points on the originality, the intricate designs on the sides, the pyrotechnical display when aloft etc. And these balloons must also be sent up in an allotted time or be disqualified.

These balloons are really huge. Some would measures in tens of metres in diametre and over 10-20 metres tall. They also carry a load of fireworks. As theses huge balloons ascend toward the stars, the fireworks shoot off in spectacular pyrotechnic display , much to the delight of the onlookers.

Loud cheers erupt as the balloons goes up but the unsuccessful teams stay silent, vowing to do better next year.

Photos by:Sonny Nyein(Swiftwinds)

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)

TAUNGGYI FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

The November moon hang bright in the dark sky flanked by millions of twinkling stars. This is the most important night in November( or in the Myanmar Lunar calendar the month of Tzaungmone). This is when the sky is clear of all clouds and the time for people to pray to the Sulamuni Pagoda said to be in the Abode of the Celestial Beings. People all over Myanmar will light up their localities with brightly coloured electric lights or lanterns. And also send up gaily decorated hot air balloons up the sky.

One of the best place to be at this time of the year is in Taunggyi, the capital city of Southern Shan States. The majority of the population there is the Shans with equal numbers of the Pa O ethnic groups and a sprinkling of the Bamar, the Danu and the Palaung groups also. But the common character that binds them is their deep religious belief in Theravada Buddhism. And this most auspicious day of the Fullmoon of Tazaungmone is the best day to show their piety.

Since early afternoon, the surrounding villages and wards of Taunggyi are a beehive of activity. The girls are busy with making themselves pretty and the boys are also working on various decorated floats or lighted lantern poles. Everything must be perfect or the village will lose face in front of the gathered crowds.

As the sun's rays disappear behind the high mountains the procession starts. Decorated floats with stories from the Jatakas (the stories from the many lives of Buddha before He attained Enlightenment) proceed at the front of each group representing a village or a ward in town. Then comes the girls, all in their native dresses and holding a lighted lantern on a pole. There might also be a troupe of musicians beating on the long traditional Shan drums and cymbals: tattooed martial arts master dancing with the beat and showing off his skills. The procession slowly make its way towards the Sulamuni Pagoda (said to resemble its name sake in heavens) at the other edge of the town. Once all the groups in the parade are assembled on the pagoda's platform traditional Buddhist mantras and prayers are recited and the Taunggyi Parade of Lights comes to a happy end.

Photos: Sonny Nyein(Swiftwinds)