In short
The Burmese new year, kept with water at the height of the hot season.
The story
The Burmese new year, kept with water at the height of the hot season, and the same solar turn as Songkran. The name is the crossing over: Thagyamin is held to come down from the heavens for the days of the festival and to write what everyone has done in one of two books, gold or dog-skin, depending.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Why it matters
Myanmar's new year water festival. Thagyamin is held to descend to take account of the year's conduct and to return on the last day, and the water thrown is washing off what he would record. Merit is made in the same days - fish released, elders bathed, novices ordained.
What people do
Four days of water thrown from pandals and hoses, and a quieter half: the elderly have their hair washed with shampoo made from bark and beans, nails are trimmed, fish are released back into the river, and monasteries are given alms. The new year's day itself is kept dry.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Told differently elsewhere
Four to five days in mid-April, ending on the new year day itself. Shares its solar reckoning with Songkran in Thailand, Pi Mai in Laos and Chaul Chnam Thmey in Cambodia; the calculation of the exact hour of the descent is published each year.
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