People dressed in festive costumes stage a Myanmar dance performance at the event. Photo: Courtesy of Myanmar Embassy in China

The Myanmar Embassy in China held various activities, including water splashing, Thingyan dance performances, and a jewelry exhibition on Sunday and Monday to celebrate the Thingyan Festival. 

Tagu is the first month of the Myanmar calendar. It falls in March and April on the Gregorian calendar. The Thingyan festival is the Myanmar New Year festival. It is held in the month of Tagu annually, according to the embassy. 

Ambassador of Myanmar to China Tin Maung Swe made welcoming remarks on Sunday before activities officially kicked off. He said that "the water-splashing festival is also the Myanmar New Year, which is the most important traditional festival in Myanmar. During the festival, people splash water on each other to symbolize the washing away of impurities and the welcoming of the New Year with a fresh start."

Tin noted that Myanmar and China share similar traditional festivals and cultural traditions. He said he believed that the Paukphaw friendship between the two countries would continue to flourish in the future.

Paukphaw, a Myanmar term that means fraternity, has been widely used to characterize the millennia-old relations between China and Myanmar. 

Embassy staffers, representatives of Myanmar students in Beijing, and students majoring in Burmese presented unique Myanmar songs and dance performances in festive costumes. Traditional dishes from Myanmar such as fish soup noodles, Myanmar-style tangyuan, and tea leaf salad were also presented to guests during the activities. 

The water-splashing activity began after the performances. Adults and children engaged in joyful water fights with water buckets, water guns, and basins.  

Water is a symbol of coolness, clarity, and cleansing, washing away dirt and grime. The Thingyan Festival is made merrier and more enjoyable with the pouring or throwing of water on one another, as a sign that one has been cleansed and all of the dirt and grime of the old year is gone, leaving behind a cool and clear mind for the New Year, the Global Times learned from the embassy.

Merry-making at the Thingyan festival is intermingled with noble and pure activities of doing meritorious religious deeds in accordance with the teaching of Buddha Dhamma, the embassy said. 

Around 800 people registered for the two-day festivities. The Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime Florcruz and Ambassador of Cambodia to China Soeung Rathchavy, secretary-general of the ASEAN-China Centre Shi Zhongjun and Deng Xijun, China's special envoy for Asian affairs, also attended the activities, according to the Myanmar Embassy.