Celebrating New Beginnings: Exploring the Traditions of Thingyan

Like most cultures, Burma celebrates its new year and the onset of a new beginning in and around April. The Thingyan Festival marks the Burmese New Year and is one of the most significant and widely celebrated festivals in the country. The Thingyan Festival marks the traditional new year in the Burmese lunar calendar. It typically lasts several days, aligning with the end of the dry season, which runs from November to April, and the start of the rainy season.

The History Behind the Thingyan Festival

The Thingyan Festival is a vibrant celebration of renewal, gratitude, and community.  The word ‘Thingyan’ is derived from the Sanskrit word tīrthayātrā, meaning cleansing journey and is thus linked to water rites celebrating the monsoon’s arrival. 

It has roots in pre-Buddhist traditions. The Thingyan Festival became intertwined with Buddhist beliefs after Buddhism arrived in Burma around the 11th century. Water plays a central role in the festival, symbolising the purification and washing away of past misfortunes. People engage in joyous water splashing to cleanse and refresh, filling the streets with music, dance, and festive gatherings. Many also visit temples, perform acts of charity, and make offerings to monks. 

On the final day, people pay their respects to the elders, make resolutions, and express gratitude for their family and community. The Thingyan Festival is a celebration of renewal, purification, and the shared spirit of the Burmese New Year.

The Tradition of Water Splashing During The Thingyan Festival

The Thingyan Festival is also called the ‘Water Festival’, named after its most distinctive tradition of joyful and symbolic water splashing. During this festival, people take to the streets with buckets, hoses, and water guns, often smeared with thanaka, playfully dousing one another to symbolise washing away the past year’s misdeeds and starting afresh.

Temporary stages called pandals are set up along roadsides and adorned with colourful flowers and lights. “These pandals serve as lively centres for music, dance performances, and water games, creating a festive, joyous atmosphere,” says Ankit Gupta, the co-founder of Burma Burma. “Traditional Burmese music and dance add to the excitement, with young people dressed in bright costumes performing cultural dances that embody the spirit of the season,” he adds.

Alongside this exuberant water play, Gupta mentions a gentler, more respectful form of water pouring. “Many people sprinkle or pour water over the hands of elders as a mark of respect and to seek blessings. In temples, devotees may also pour water over Buddha statues as an act of reverence and spiritual purification.”

How Burma Burma Celebrates the Thingyan Festival

The Thingyan Festival, Burma Burma brings this festive spirit to our restaurants across India with a limited edition Thingyan Menu available from May 1 to 31, 2026, for both dine-in and delivery. Inspired by the lively Burmese Lunch Houses that come alive during the festival, this limited-edition menu celebrates the joy of gathering around the table with your loved ones for an unhurried celebratory meal with conversations that lead to more conversations and a lot of sharing.

Rice is Burma’s most loved harvest and is at the heart of every Burmese meal and is served with curries, salads and stir fries. Our limited-edition menu features four unique bowls inspired by the delicacies served at these Burmese Lunch Homes. Each bowl features soulful curries served on a bed of a unique rice preparation, savoury wok-tossed stir fries and addictive snacks that add the perfect crunch. With every bowl comes a light, vegetable soup, a refreshing salad platter and lip-smacking dips. 

Also on the menu are a variety of Small Plates. These are made to share and to bring everyone together around the table. Thingyan arrives just as summer begins to warm the streets of Burma, and refreshing drinks become an essential part of the celebrations. Our limited-edition menu also features an assortment of Refreshing Beverages, perfect to sip between bites. Festivals always end on a sweet note, and our Thingyan Desserts draw inspiration from traditional Burmese favourites. Adding to the festive cheer, every table will also be served a delicate Paan Jelly to end your meal just like the Burmese do! The celebration extends beyond the menu with playful experiences inspired by Burmese markets.

Guests can visit our fruit-leather hawker, offering handcrafted fruit leathers in flavours such as pineapple & coconut, muskmelon & mint, tamarind with chilli salt and raw mango & kokum. There’s also a Popsicle Cart at every restaurant, a joyful market-style tradition that adds to the festive feel. Here, the diners can spin a fortune wheel for a chance to win an exciting free treat!

What the Thingyan Festival Means for the Burma Burma Team

“We were lucky to witness the Thingyan Festival during our first visit to Burma and we went unknowingly and had a great time,” recalls Chef Ansab Khan. “We still remember the days when one of our friends in Burma took us around to explore the city with people splashing water across and I have many fond memories of our first experience of Thingyan Festival,” he shares.

Gupta, whose mum has Burmese roots, recalls her beautiful memories of celebrating Thingyan Festival in her hometown, where the entire village would come alive with excitement in the days leading up to the festival — an emotion she says is beautifully preserved by Burma Burma India. As a child, she would gather with friends, filling clay pots with flowers and scented water to use during the water splashing. “For her,” shares Gupta, “the real joy of Thingyan Festival wasn’t just in the fun of it all, but in the strong sense of community that it fostered.”

FAQ

1. What is the concept of Thingyan?

In the summer, communities across Asia celebrate the harvest season. In Burma, it’s called Thingyan, the Burmese New Year. It brings a sense of joy, renewal, and togetherness. It is a time when families, friends, and neighbours gather to share meals and welcome new beginnings by splashing water on one another, a celebratory ritual that symbolises purification and renewal. 

2. What is eaten during the Thingyan festival?

As Thingyan is a harvest festival. Rice is Burma’s most loved harvest and is at the heart of every Burmese meal and is served with curries, salads and stir fries. The meals are hearty and served with a variety of desserts like Mont-lone-yay-paw.

3. What is the dress code of the Thingyan Festival?

People throw water on each other to celebrate the Thingyan Festival. It is a sign of purification and welcoming the new. It’s preferred to wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting wet when celebrating the Thingyan Festival.

4. What do people do during Thingyan Festival?

During the Thingyan Festival, people across Burma celebrate with a nationwide water splashing festival. This is done as an act of purification and celebration of all things ‘new’. 

5. How many days is Thingyan celebrated?

The duration of the Thingyan Festival is in the Burmese month of Tagu according to the Burmese calendar and falls in mid-April. It mostly begins  around April 13 and lasts up to April 17th.