By Yan Siu

With news of Burma becoming more prominent on television recently, we may discover something Burmese in our city.

Have you ever experienced the “Songkran Festival" (the Water-Splashing Festival) in Macao? There is a chance if you go to the Hac Sa Beach on April 17 you may encounter one. Each year, Burmese and Chinese-Burmese living in Macao celebrate their “Songkran Festival". During the festival, you will see that from the entrance of the beach to the end of the tree-lined area, there would be colorful flags with words of “Macao Chinese Burmese Songkran Festival" studded on the both sides of the path.

The Songkran Festival is a 700-year-old traditional festival in Myanmar, Thailand and some Southern Asian countries. It is also marked by some ethnic minority groups in Yunnan, China. The Macao event is not only attended by Burmese and Chinese Burmese, but also by the Macao government representatives, mainland guests and diplomats from the consulates-general of ten Southeast Asian countries. The participants will splash water on each other after they perform some songs and dances. Visitors can also join the activities, enjoying splashing water on each other and using water to wash away troubles and bad luck.

Macao is a place where there is a mixture of Eastern and Western cultures. There are different groups of Eastern cultures too. For example, Burmese, especially the Chinese Burmese started to come to Macao in the 1960s. Some of them operate restaurants in Macao; some work in hotels and educational institutes. A part of the contribution of the economic growth comes from those laborers.

Karen, who is one of my classmates in university, is Burmese. She can speak fluent Chinese so at first I did not know she was Burmese. I had an interview with her. She told me that the Songkran Festival was very important to Burmese. The festival is from April 13 to April 16 each year. It is also the New Year of Myanmar so “splashing water" becomes a grand celebration. She had been to the festival but never tried to “splash water" on others. She was told by her parents that in Myanmar, the celebration of the Songkran Festival would continue for three days. People would wake up early and take a shower. After that, they would use pure water to splash others outside the house in the morning. They wish it would help them to wash away the troubles in the past year and bring them luck in the New Year. Moreover, they would have a show of singing and dancing at night. The atmosphere of the festival in Myanmar is more lively than in Macao. But Burmese in Macao feel happy and satisfied because they could celebrate their New Year in Macao, said Karen.