Celebrating the new year through the water festival as an occupation

Image of Thingyan Water Festival

Previously, I wrote about my friend Moe Oo’s story of her memories of the New Year’s Thingyan Water Festival in Myanmar. Moe Oo is a graduate student who lives in California. The Thingyan Water Festival is the biggest annual festival in Myanmar. It is a huge celebration of the new year. People gather in the city parks to throw water on each other. Families and friends visit each other’ s homes to celebrate the new year.

In this holiday season, however, Moe Oo is far from home and cannot get there to celebrate. She misses the days she had with her family in Myanmar. She phoned her relatives in Myanmar for new year greetings and catching up on family and friends' news. Using the perspective of occupation, I would like to analyze the occupation of celebrating the water festival through the aspects of,

the form of the occupation of celebrating the new year,

the function of the occupation,

and the meaning of the occupation.

 At first, let’s imagine how Moe Oo spent the Thingyan Festival.

Situation: Moe Oo is in her 30s, from Myanmar. She is studying software engineering in a graduate school in California.

The form of the occupation: The Thingyan festival is the biggest holiday season, celebrated for ten days in the middle of April, in Myanmar. People celebrate the new year with a water festival. They sprinkle, splash or pour water on each other in the parks, specially set aside for the festival. They also enjoy eating and drinking festive foods, and dancing to the music played by bands in the parks.

When Moe Oo was a child, she used to enjoy “watering” others with her younger brother. Meanwhile, adults joined the new year ceremonies in the temples. Then, she and her family enjoyed themselves in the parks. Later, her family and relatives gathered at Moe Oo’s house to celebrate the new year. Her mom prepared traditional foods for the new year, like many different dumplings. These years, however, Moe Oo has been abroad, so she spends the new year away from Myanmar. She phones her relatives in Myanmar to exchange new year greeting and to share recent updates of family matters. 

The function of the occupation: People celebrate the new year in Myanmar, sprinkling, splashing or pouring water on each other. They say that the water washes away bad lack from the old year and brings good luck for the new year. People also enjoy eating, drinking, dancing, and praying for each other. Families and relatives’ gathering, sharing and enjoying eating, drinking, talking and praying for good luck and wellbeing for each other, provides a sense of unity. It also establishes belongingness to the Myanmar culture and society. It assures their sense of identity.

Because Moe Oo can’t participate in the water festival or her family gatherings for the new year, she needs to call her relatives reassure her sense of belongingness to her family and to Myanmar and its people.

The meaning of the occupation: The cultural or social meaning of “watering” in Myanmar is washing away bad luck and brining good luck. It is said to be influenced by Buddhist tradition. Another ceremony of releasing fish in a river or a pond has the same meaning, bringing good luck for the new year. So, spraying, splashing, or pouring water in the parks means bringing good luck to each other for the new year. Enjoying eating, drinking, and dancing together in the festival, they bring and share good luck in the new year. Families and relatives’ gatherings also mean praying for the well-being of each other, making and maintaining connections, and assuring a sense of belonging to the family, community, and the culture. Moe Oo tried to reassure her sense of belonging to her family, community, and her culture, by calling her relatives in Myanmar, sharing greetings for the new year and catching up with family events.