Ananda Festival named after the Ananda Temple – one of the most important and beautiful pagodas in Myanmar takes place in Bagan from January 12th to January 27th, 2017.
YANGON – Usually peaceful grounds of the Ananda Templein the ancient Old Bagan come to life in the month of January. During the festival, 1000 monks perform continuous chanting of scriptures for 72 hours. Thousands of villagers from the area come with their ox carts for this annual event to buy new clothes, furniture or kitchenware. On the morning of the full moon day, they offer gift bowls to the monks in attendance.
Vendors come from all over the country to cater to their needs. Most families attending the festival are camping around the temple. With a progressing development of Myanmar, the festival is an amazing spectacle of tradition. Come along and join the fun festivities if you don’t mind being one of very few foreigners doing so. Get ready for a lot of stares and an occasional laugh. For people from the nearby villages, a foreigner is still a rare sight.
You could be excused if you thought that after long and tiring trading day the buyers and sellers will go to sleep. Performances including traditional dances, marionettes shows, slapstick comedy (with actual slapsticks), singing and movie projections start at around 9pm and can last all night long. Don’t ask for a detailed program though as there is none. Just come over, relax, let it go and see what you can get.
“I’ve witnessed the festival for the first time in January 2011. It’s fun to visit for an hour or two to see the traditional lifestyle and to walk around. the market.” – said an expat from Poland living in Yangon.
“It’s a great attraction to visit after your dinner and see what’s happening.” – said a tourist from New Zealand who was in Bagan in January last year.
The Ananda Temple, located in Bagan, Myanmar is a Buddhist temple built in 1105 AD during the reign (1084–1113) of King Kyanzittha of the Pagan Dynasty. It is one of four surviving temples in Bagan. The temple layout is in a cruciform with several terraces leading to a small pagoda at the top covered by an umbrella known as hti, which is the name of the umbrella or top ornament found in almost all pagodas in Myanmar. The Buddhist temple houses four standing Buddhas, each one facing the cardinal direction of East, North, West and South. The temple is said to be an architectural wonder in a fusion of Mon and adopted Indian style of architecture. The impressive temple has also been titled the “Westminster Abbey of Burma”. The temple has close similarity to the Pathothamya temple of the 10th–11th century, and is also known as “veritable museum of stones”.
The temple was damaged in the earthquake of 1975. However, it has been fully restored and is well maintained by frequent painting and whitewashing of the walls. On the occasion of 900th anniversary of its construction celebrated in 1990 the temple spires were gilded. It is a highly revered temple of Bagan.
If you visit Myanmar in January, try to make sure you’re in Bagan during the festival time.
Photo caption: Ananda Temple in Bagan
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