Rural folks visiting Ananda Pagoda festival in traditional style

Yangon January 25

Rural people living around Bagan ancient region are visiting Ananda Pagoda festival in traditional style as in the previous years. They are travelling en masse in covered bullock-carts as their forefathers did many years ago.

These rural folks parked their traditional cattle drawn vehicles in groups in a nearby ground where they erected tents for temporary stay during the visit. They cook food and spend the nights at these tents while enjoying the festival where they pay obeisance to the Buddha images, buy food and other necessities at the shops opened at the festival and watch plays.

We came from Myaythintwin village in NyaungU township in a fleet of covered bullock-carts as usual. We left our village five days ago, and nearly the entire village is now at the festival. Only the aged stay behind at homes. We use our covered bullock-carts as mode of transport as a mean of preserving our age-old traditions initiated since the time of our ancestors. We bring all the necessary household items together with us. In fact, we are farmers working hard the whole year. So we visit the pagoda festival for leisure as well as for doing meritorious deeds. Besides we can buy clothes and other necessaries at the many shops here, a villager told Myawady.

Ananda Pagoda built by King Kyansittha nearly one thousand years ago in Bagan holds its annual festival in the Myanmar month of Pyatho (January or February).

The Myawady Daily