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Tazaungdaing, the festival of lights and weaving
On the full moon of Tazaungmone Myanmar lights lanterns, and teams of women weave monastic robes in a single night.
What is worn for Tazaungdaing, the festival of lights and weaving
Tazaungdaing is the festival of the full moon of the month of Tazaungmone, in November, at the end of the rainy season retreat. Lanterns, balloons and lights are put up around pagodas, and people offer new robes and other gifts to monks, in the Kathina season. A well known part of it is the weaving contest, in which teams of young women weave a robe, called matho thingan, in a single night, to be offered to the Buddha image at dawn. The contest is held at the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, and in other towns. It is a celebration of the hand loom skill of Myanmar, and women wear the htamein and a fresh jacket for it. The full moon day is worked out by the Burmese calendar and can differ by a day.
The sarees
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Tazaungdaing festival" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Longyi: Unknown author, Public domain, source