About this time of the year in Myanmar, the grumbles start. “Pu-deh, naw?” “It’s hot, no?”
It’s March, known as ‘Tabaung’ in Myanmar, the last month of the calendar year. “Days are warm and nights are chilly, Tabaung is the month so unruly,” goes the saying.
The seasons are changing. Ahead of us lie two months of climbing temperatures followed by a steady stretch of monsoon rain.
It’s easy to see this as the beginning of the end.
But a delightful editorial published in state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar this morning puts a much more positive spin on things.
Writer Maha Saddhamma Jotika Dhaja Sithu Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt describes March as the country’s fertile springtime.
“Tabaung is described as the queen of 12 months because in this month natural landscape bursts forth all its beauties and splendors,” he writes.
Flowers in Myanmar pictured in March 2015. Photo: Flickr
“Landscape, waterscape and skyscape change displaying their varieties of columns, designs created by the sun, the clouds and the breeze. Avian, terrestrial and aqual [sic] creatures frolic. Insects begin their mating games.
Thandwe beach, pictured in March 2015. Photo: Flickr
“The atmosphere is green and changed with fragrances and brightened with riots of flora.”
As the rivers dry up, sand banks appear and pagoda festivals are held, writes Maha Saddhamma Jotika Dhaja Sithu Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt.
It’s honoring a tradition that dates back to King Anawratha, who reputedly built Shwezigon Pagoda, in Bagan, on a sand bank.
Thousands of pilgrims head to Shwesettaw, where pagodas are said to contain footprints of the Buddha.
In Yangon, people gather at Shwedagon Pagoda for the full moon, which falls on the 23rd this year.
Photo: Du Hangst / Flickr
Maybe the next few weeks won’t be so bad after all.
As for next month? Two words: mango season.
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