Burmese Christmas
"This is horrible! I’ll never get the chance to relish in the sight of my soaked neighbor ever again! "
I remember my dog staring at me, puzzled, as I shoved the last winter coat into my luggage with annoyance. It has been exactly eight months since I threw a tantrum in front of my nine-month-old puppy and left the soil of my country. There were many things I missed: my parents, my dogs, Burmese food, my bedroom, and my exquisite collection of Paw Patrol plushies. However, none came close to my longing for Thingyan, the Burmese water festival.
Thingyan was my Christmas. That was the one time of the year that I was allowed to have a water fight with literally anyone. It was the Burmese new year that is celebrated for four days, from April 13 to April 16. We celebrate it with water to wash away the evil deeds of the last year and to welcome the new year. Hence, it is also called the Water Festival. There was food and music dedicated solely to the festival. The staple snack for Thingyan is the iconic glutinous rice ball filled with jaggery or palm sugar. We would sometimes swap out the sugar for a piece of chili as a prank. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen into the trap of eating the chili-filled rice ball multiple times. Listening to Thingyan songs would also make me feel nostalgic. It was like Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas Is You," but the Burmese version with fewer jingle bells.
Moving to a school where I was the first Burmese student wasn’t easy. There wasn’t also anyone that shared the same culture as me. Ever since the flag of my country got set up in the school library, I have always felt that I should leave a good impression on the school for future Burmese students. One of the prompt questions in the application process asked what I would contribute to the school. In my case, Thingyan was something I’d gladly share and bring with me. I wanted my friends to experience the endless fun I had back home. Therefore, with the help of amazing teachers and peers, I decided to host my own water festival at school.
Unfortunately, it was a cold spring night. It was a miscalculation on my part since it was the first spring I experienced in the US. I have always associated spring with flowers and the sun. I didn’t expect it to be this cold because seasons didn’t really exist back home. In Myanmar, it was just an endless circle of humidity and monsoon. Nevertheless, I celebrated a different type of Thingyan that night with my friends and teachers from school. It was filled with water slides, water guns, water balloons, and snacks. Although it wasn’t the same as it was back home, I was happy to share a bit of my culture with people.
Even though I moved to a new place with a completely different culture, Thingyan and all the different festivals I celebrated at home would always be a part of me. Moving away from home surprisingly made me closer to my culture. I realized that Thingyan was one of the many things that I was taking for granted, and the epiphany made me more appreciative of Burmese culture. As Michael David Rosenberg, from the band Passenger, once said, "You only need the light when it's burning low."