MYANMAR MAGIC - THE PHAUNG DAW OO PAGODA FESTIVAL
On this, my second trip to Myanmar, I had come expressly to see the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival on and around Inle Lake. Magical at the best of times with its stilted villages and floating gardens, when it hosts this traditional festival, it’s spellbinding. Hill tribes, Danu, Intha, Pa-O, Palaung and Kachin, come down from their remote villages, each in their distinctive clothes and with their own place in the Burmese story. The Shan people, devout Buddhists, are proud to welcome them all to their State and the traveller gets a rare chance to see them at this unique festival, a heady mix of faith and fun. It is held in Thadingyut, the seventh month of the Burmese Lunar calendar, around October time and lasts eighteen days.
It was a boatman who told me about the evening ceremony and took me across the lake. As far as I know, I was the only foreigner there. Pilgrims from ethnic groups and local people make their way to the paya (pagoda) to pray and give offerings at the shrine of five tiny Buddha images, said to be over eight hundred years old and the stars of the show.
It was a boatman who told me about the evening ceremony and took me across the lake. As far as I know, I was the only foreigner there. Pilgrims from ethnic groups and local people make their way to the paya (pagoda) to pray and give offerings at the shrine of five tiny Buddha images, said to be over eight hundred years old and the stars of the show.
I’m already familiar with the eye-catching red, checked headdress of cheroot-smoking Shan market women. I notice a group of Shan girls sitting in a circle waiting to go into the pagoda for the ceremony and later on in the festival there are many Shan watching the Karaweik glide majestically into sight to the delight of the crowds.
In a blatant touch of Myanmar machismo, only the men are allowed to approach the diminutive Buddhas on the central shrine and press layers of gold leaf onto them to show their devotion. With time the images have become increasingly shapeless and unrecognizable.
The men jostle for position around the platform displaying these treasured objects, leaving the women to light candles, mutter their prayers and pass their own offerings forward to be collected in the inner sanctum. All this can be watched on TV screens scattered around the vast interior of the pagoda, adding a touch of “Burmese bling” often present in places of worship. A garish gold finish, fluorescent lighting and incongruous “Christmas tree” flashing lights often adorn temple walls and columns.
Only four of the venerated Buddha images are transported ceremoniously around the lake in a gilded vessel named “Karaweik” or mythical bird, whilst the mysterious fifth Buddha image is left to ‘guard’ their original resting place at the Pagoda. Things changed in 1965 when the boat capsized and only four were recovered. According to local legend, the fifth miraculously reappeared in the pagoda and has remained there ever since. This ornate vessel is a replica of the one said to have been used by King Alaung Sithu, a 10th century monarch who travelled extensively and nurtured Buddhism in the country.
The dreamlike scene of the Karaweik setting out at 4 a.m and gliding across the lake takes place under the cloak of darkness. It carries the Buddha images to thirteen lakeside villages. At each one they are ceremoniously received by the faithful before spending the night at the local paya. When they reach Nyaungshwe, Inle Lake’s main town, I am there to welcome them, camera at the ready, along with thousands of others.
As I take my photos a girl with chalky white powder smeared across her cheeks passes selling snacks. She walks through the crowd, her wares displayed on a tray balanced adeptly on her head. Amongst little plastic bags of biscuit-like goodies are intriguing pouches of speckled birds eggs. The powder is thanaka, a traditional sunscreen worn by women and children in Myanmar. Though originally made by the laborious process of grinding tree bark into powder and mixing it with water, nowadays it can be bought in practical, ready-to-mix sachets or even a jar.
As I take my photos a girl with chalky white powder smeared across her cheeks passes selling snacks. She walks through the crowd, her wares displayed on a tray balanced adeptly on her head. Amongst little plastic bags of biscuit-like goodies are intriguing pouches of speckled birds eggs. The powder is thanaka, a traditional sunscreen worn by women and children in Myanmar. Though originally made by the laborious process of grinding tree bark into powder and mixing it with water, nowadays it can be bought in practical, ready-to-mix sachets or even a jar.
Both Pa-O men and women are easily distinguishable by their brightly colored towel headdress and stripy cloth shoulder bags standing out against their customary black clothes. I spot a Pa-O girl whose beautiful velvet headdress, hand-sewn with sequins, was obviously made for the occasion. Her delicate cheeks are enhanced by a dusting of thanaka. Pa-O men are wearing their usual headdress.
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Never before have I seen such an unusual boat race. With up to fifty men in matching dress per long boat, the races are an amazing spectacle. At first sight leg-rowing, the unique, traditional method used by Inle Lake’s iconic Intha fishermen, seems awkward and ungainly. In fact it’s supremely practical. By standing on one leg at one end of the boat and wrapping the other round the oar, fishermen’s arms are free to control the conical fish baskets they use. The technique is always a star turn at Inle’s festivals too - an attempt to preserve a tradition under threat from the noisy outboard motors on the lake nowadays.
As I wait expectantly in an excited crowd of hundreds for the leg-rowing long boat in the lead to pass the post, I look across the river. I spot maroon robes framed by the windows of a wooden building. On the left two monks are sharing a joke. Those on the right are watching the approaching leg-rowing long boat. It’s the first race and obviously a feature of the festival that is popular with the locals, who are proud of their traditions.
Now fun is added to faith. I am struck by the contrast with the solemn ceremony that begins the festival. Locals, members of many ethnic groups, monks and in Nyaungshwe tourists from far and wide are enjoying the Phaung Daw Oo Festival. There’s plenty to keep novices happy too. Once the races are over and the crowds disperse, I wander towards the funfair and find groups of novices doing what all kids do at the fair but with a quirky touch. As well as rides there are puppet shows, food stalls, purveyors of potions and unidentifiable animal parts, fortune telling – all the fun of the fair but Myanmar style.
Myanmar has been changing fast in recent years. It has experienced a tourist boom and sadly, for now at least, seems to have lost its still shaky, democracy. Traditional festivals like this one are one way of helping the rich culture of this deeply Buddhist country survive.