Thadingyut (Myanmar’s Lighting Festival)
The Thadingyut Festival (also known as the Lighting Festival) is held on the full moon day of the Burmese Lunar month of Thadingyut. Myanmar people used to hold ceremonies to pay respect to the elder people with gifts.
Thadingyut, the seventh month of the Myanmar calendar, is the end of the Buddhist Lent or Vassa. Thadingyut festival lasts for three days: the day before the full moon day, the full moon day, which marks Buddha’s descent from Tāvatiṃsa (တာဝတိံသာ နတ်ပြည်) Heaven the day after preaching Abhidhamma (အဘိဓမ္မာ တရားတော်) for three Lenten months to his mother Maya (မယ်တော်မာယာ) who was reincarnated as an Angel named Santushita (သန္တုသိတ နတ်သား).
Buddhists celebrate Thadingyut to welcome the Buddha and his disciples by enlightening and festooning the streets, houses, and public buildings with colored electric bulbs or candles, which represent those three stairways.
The Thadingyut Lighting festival is also celebrated with Buddha's Dhamma teachings to drive away from the darkness of ignorance and become enlightened in accordance with their beliefs.
During the festival days, Buddhists usually go to pagodas and monasteries to pay respect to the monks and offer food. And some Buddhists usually fast on the full moon day. Young people usually pay respect to their parents, teachers, and elderly relative and offer them some fruits and other gifts.
While paying homage the younger people usually ask for forgiveness for the wrong-doings they have caused upon their parents or other elderly relatives throughout the year.
