Today is Full Moon Day of October. We call it ThiDinGyut full moon day.
It is also know as Lights Festival.
From the book "Flowers and Festivals Round the Myanmar Year " written by
Daw Khin Myo Chit , translated by Junior Win,
Thidingyut, the seventh month of the Myanmar calendar, marks the end of lent.
Monsoon is on the way out and the skies are clearing. Sunny days are here to stay.
Illuminations are there to celebrate the anniversary of the Buddha's return from the
celestial abode where he had spent the lent teaching the gods above his law.
Streets, houses and public buildings are illuminated and festooned with coloured electric bulbs.
One feature of the festival in small towns and village is see-mee lighting ; small earthen bowls are filled with sesame oil and a piece of cotton is soaked in each bowl and lighted.
These lighted oil bowls are placed on the terraces of pagodas. The lights last longer than
candles and the little tongues of flame quivering in the breeze lend an uncanny beauty to the
scene steeped silvery moonlight. Such lights are sometimes seen on the pagodas in
Yangon city.
Thidingyut is not only a season of festivals and rejoicings, but also a time for remembering
those whom we owe respect and gratitude. The Buddha's visit to the celestial regions was
to teach the great Truth he had found through rigorous striving for many many lives, to his
own mother.
It was a gesture of gratitude, an example for all to follow.
When Buddhists do the act of kadaw (paying respect) to anyone, their parents, teachers or elders, they not only pay respects as a gesture of gratitude, but they also ask forgiveness for
any wrongful action they might have done in this life and many many lives before.
Paying respects ceremonies are organized and held in schools. Paying respects to teacher,
one of the Five Revered Ones, is still practised. Buddhists parables illustrate the good influence
of teachers on their students, even though the latter might have become ruling kings.
So, this is the spirit of Thidingyut season...paying respects to these to whom respect is due and
remembering those to whom we owe gratitude.
