Transcript Burmese festival

Burmese water festival

Burma is a country in Asia. The population
is 42 million. The climate is not extreme.
The main exports are agricultural
products. In this country there are many
traditional happenings. One of them is the
Water Festival. This tradition is based on
the Buddhist religion. This holiday is how
they celebrate New Year and it is in the
month of April.

Today, Burmese people celebrate it in a
different way. The older people go to the
monastery and worship to the Lord
Buddha and the monks. But the young
ones go out driving in their cars. Most of
the cars used in the Water Festival are
jeeps. A jeep can carry only 6/7 people
normally, but in the Water Festival days, it
carries over 25 people standing and
climbing on all parts of the car, even with
some people sitting on the hood of the
engine. It looks like a man-tree from a
distance. While they are driving, they are
singing songs and shouting. Some ladies
and women are among those on the cars.

Burma is a Buddhist country. During the
dynasty of Burmese kings, the king
celebrated the New Year in his palace
together with his families, for three days.
They offered flowers, fruits, and foods to
the Buddha in the monastery. There they
worshipped Buddha and the monks. The
king and his families poured water on each
otheron their backs or on their shoulders
from a silver bowl. The water from the
silver bowl was perfumed. Outside the
palace, all the people poured water on
each other from their buckets or silver
bowls. They believed that the Lord Buddha
came from heaven on the first day and
went back on the third day of the
celebration. Pouring water on each other
was meant to wash off the misdeeds or
what they had done in the past.
Pictures…
…and video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BxSfLKcqCkE