This is Thingyan.

This is Thingyan. Pronounced “tha jan pwe daw.” It is Myanmar’s water Festival celebrating the Upcoming Myanmar New Year.

This is Thingyan. The Myanmar New Year falls on April 16^th this year. But celebrations start on the 13^th to welcome in the new year.

This is Thingyan. Myanmar has twelve months that follow weather and seasons. Thingyan ushers in the first month on the Myanmar calendar. This month is called Tagu.

This is Thingyan. Water is sprinkled, dunked, and tossed to wash away the old sins of the past year and to start anew.

This is Thingyan. Neighbors open their gates, invite you for a mone lone yei baw, a water boiled coconut palm jaggery snack, and scale 30 feet palm trees for every family to have their own coconut.

This is Thingyan. Padauk pans open up their beauty to the world for a few days. The speckled gold blooms decorate women’s hair, pagodas, monasteries, shops, and houses. Their beauty most be known.

This is Thingyan. And how important cultural integration can change your perspective. Everything was different, including me. The change I went through in one year was filled with moments of love, heartache, loneliness, fulfillment, an anxiousness that I couldn’t shake, and my body being wrecked by a Myanmar diet and climate. But this year I walked out my door for 8am wake up calls to splash water on all the street babies and toddlers, neighborhood strolls with protective aunties, meetups with new volunteer friends, and small celebrations with those I love in a holiday where we are the most happiest. I reflect back one year at site grounded in where I’ve been and rooted in where I’m going next.