Letters from Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Water Festival (2)

This year /thingyan/, the water festival that takes place at the end of the Burmese lunar year, began on the 12th of April. On that day, in the midst of a flurry of activities connected with the ceremonies the NLD was planning for the 14th, we arranged an /ata/ pot. This is an earthenware vessel filled with symbolic leaves and flowers for the purpose, some hold, of welcoming /Sakya/ when he comes down for the water festival. Others see it as an insurance against ill luck, particularly for those who were born on the day of the week on which the last day of thingyan falls, as such people are held to be highly vulnerable to misfortune during the year to come. Whatever the original purpose may have been, placing the ata pot in an auspicious part of the house is generally seen as an indispensable part of the preparations for thingyan.

The flower especially associated with the water festival is the /padauk/ (the Indian or Malabar Kino), bright yellow with a very sweet but light fragrance. It usually blooms at this time of year after a shower of rain but as the second week of April was quite dry we had resigned ourselves to a thingyan without the enchanting sight of frothy golden blossoms adorning all and sundry. However on the day of our NLD water festival somebody brought some padauk which had been found in bloom on some eccentric tree and I was able to tuck a happy spray into my hair. In Arakan on the western coast of Burma thingyan is celebrated in a particularly refined and charming way. Therefore we arranged our water throwing somewhat along the lines in which it is conducted by the Arakanese although we could not observe all their beautiful thingyan traditions. Three long wooden boats were filled with water and young women stood behind the boats armed with bowls in which they scooped up water to throw at the young men who queued up to stand opposite them, behind a barrier of bamboo poles. To throw back water in their turn the young men had to try to catch, in small cups provided for them, the water thrown by the young women. Of course the whole arrangement was blatantly in favor of the young women who were able to keep up a relentless deluge. Whoever ducked his head or turned away his face or wiped it or shielded it in any way was held to have surrendered. It must be admitted there were very few surrenders although the young men were barely able to collect enough water in their cups to enable them to return fire. Each water battle lasted for one minute. A whistle would be blown to indicate that time was up and one dripping and bedraggled batch of water warriors would make way for another. Those who were not content with a single bout of water throwing would go straight out to stand in queue for another round. There were many indefatigable spirits who spent most of the day by the water boats, taking a rest only at the hottest time of the afternoon when play was stopped for a short period.

At the same time as the water throwing was going on there was an almost continuous program of songs and dances for the entertainment of those who wanted to sit and dry out. Most of the dances had been hastily rehearsed by amateurs and could not have been described as examples of choreographic perfection. But imbued with the generous spirit of the season, the audience were quite determined to be pleased and even the most fastidious of them willingly overlooked the flaws.

The main purpose of our thingyan celebrations was to collect funds for political prisoners. There was a stall where NLD souvenirs were sold, a hot drinks stall, a stall selling pickled tea and ginger preparations and stall where a substantial Burmese meal could be bought at a very reasonable price. A Burmese meal basically consists of what the Japanese would describe as /kare-raisu/, although our curries are considerably different from the kare that is served in Japan. During the days of thingyan many Burmese eat vegetarian food as an act of merit so a variety of both vegetarian and nonvegetarian curries were provided at our food stall. The exercise involved in wielding bowls, buckets and syringes and the sheer exhilaration of a good drenching when the temperature is in the nineties give a sharp edge to one's appetite. It was little wonder our food stalls made very brisk trade and sold out early. There is a lovely Burmese custom known as /satuditha/. This is a Pali expression meaning the four directions and satuditha is the charitable act of offering free food or drink to those who come from the four points of the compass, that is to say, to all comers. For our thingyan celebrations NLD members from various townships in the Rangoon division had provided seasonal sweets and cool drinks as satuditha. It was a pleasure to watch the faces of those at the satuditha stall; their expressions were such a striking illustration of mutual joy and satisfaction. We believe satuditha results in spiritual benefits not only for those who offer it but also for those who accept the offering because by accepting they help the others acquire merit. Moreover, it is held that partaking of satuditha offerings during thingyan brings good health in the new year.