MDY readies for 76th Buddha Pujaniya Festival of Shwesayan Pagoda

The 76th Buddha Pujaniya Festival of the Shwesayan Pagoda in Patheingyi Township, Mandalay Region, will be organized as usual, according to the pagoda trustees.
The festival begins annually on the full moon day of Tabaung, 24 March this year, and lasts for ten days.
U Soe Hlaing, a member of the trustees, said: “During the festival, we’ll arrange facilities for pilgrims to release fish into the Dohtawady River. There’ll also be over 200 Shan ethnic shops and 600 Myanmar shops as in previous years.”
The market fair is where festival-goers visit to buy local products from Shan State as well as traditional Myanmar handicrafts, clothes and food.
Legend has it that big river fish swim upstream of the Dohtawady River to visit the pagoda during the festival. Pilgrims feed the fish or gild their heads.
The pagoda is situated north of the river, which originates from the Namtu-Hsipaw area in northern Shan State. Mongmaw Empress Saw Mon Hla, or Sao Mom La in Shan, commissioned the construction of the pagoda.
Myanmar is home to two pagodas named Shwesayan: one located in Thaton, Mon State, and another situated in Patheingyi, Mandalay.
Pagoda’s history suggests that a flock of sparrows, known as “sar” in the Myanmar language, circled the sacred relics at the onset of the pagoda’s construction, inspiring the name Shwesayan, which loosely translates to “surrounded by golden sparrows”. — ASH/NT