The Water Festival
The Water Festival
By Angela Aye
I want to write about a famous celebration in my country called the Water Festival. It is the Burmese New Year. We have Water Festival every year as holiday. Burmese people celebrate for five days, from April 13 to 18 every year.
The village people have to go the city to find work and make money for buying food for the children. The family then gather to have a party and most of the people go to temple to pray and celebrate.
The young people shampoo the elder people’s hair because it shows respect. When we have finished washing their hair we bow down and show respect three times. The elder people wish us a wonderful life in the future. When the Water Festival take place all houses have to bring their own cooked food and they have to take to the temple. It’s very important to prepare food for the monks. This is our traditional way of showing respect for other people.
Nowadays, Burmese around the world, celebrate the Water Festival in different ways. For example, some people contribute food to their neighbour, some people go around on the streets and play with water and some people perform traditional dancing and singing.
Angela Aye is 21. Her family originates from Burma, but she was born in Thailand and she came to New Zealand in 2006. She came as a refugee, by herself. She lived for eight months in Auckland, and then she came to Wellington. She left her country because of the internal conflicts, because there was war between the regions. She is studying computers and working as a volunteer at the Whaia Kahurangi Whitireia Training Centre. Angela likes living in Wellington because the city is small, there is a friendly community. She is living in Wellington.
