Happy Burmese New Year!

Today I traveled the world without leaving the county, thanks to my neighbor, Winnie. I got to know Winnie during the blizzard back in January, and enjoyed a more relaxing visit on Valentine's Day over some cookies and hot drinks. She shared with me stories of her life and her country, and invited me to come with her to a special event in the spring at her Buddhist monastery. I've been looking forward to April 17 ever since!

The special event was the traditional Burmese New Year Celebration. Here is how the day went and things I learned, in summary:

• At about 9 a.m., we left Winnie's house for the Buddhist monastery in Adelphi, about 20 minutes away.
• We unloaded food and soap from her car, dropped the food off at a table, and then removed our shoes and entered the worship house (not sure what that building was called).
• Distributed the soap bars into several bags that were going to be given to the elders.
• Waited while Winnie knelt on the rug and said her prayers facing the Buddha shrine on the stage at the front.
• Was introduced to some of the elders and some of her friends. They were all very kind, but I don't remember any of their names. I did come to understand that there was a respectful title, like "grandmother" for elderly women, and those of your parents age are all called "Auntie" and "Uncle" before there names out of respect.
• Winnie gave me a little tour of the monastery where the monks lived, which was across from the worship building. It was basically a large house, but the outside had markings that made it clear it was something like a monastery and not a normal house. Inside, it had a kitchen and large eating area on the main floor, and upstairs there was another Buddha shrine, with closed doors to two rooms where the three monks stay.
• Next we went back to the table and made the serving portions of the food that Winnie had brought. It was a sweet, sticky kind of cake, made with coconut milk. We also met more friends.
• Then it was time to go back into the worship house for the ceremony to honor the elders--those over age 75. Each elder had a turn to share a blessing or a teaching with the group, and then the group would respond with "May your blessing come true for us." (All in Burmese.)
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• After the ceremony, we went back outside and waited for a little while until the monks walked through first and took a sampling of everyone's food. This was called the "offering" to the monks. Then everyone else could go through and eat.
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• We then went to several of the booths and collected portions of various kinds of Burmese food. My friend was kind enough to ask them to serve me portions without the meat so I was able to enjoy two kinds of noodle dishes, which unfortunately filled me up too fast. But all said and done, I still squeezed in four sweet, white, chewy balls; some very deep-fat fried veggies with some dipping sauce; some soup with a kind of flat bread at the base; and a dessert cup with lots of colorful gelatin shapes floating in white liquid, semi-frozen. It was all good! But I was stuffed!
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• Not long after the eating began, they started playing some music pretty loudly from the speakers, and eventually, that also included various youth--mostly girls, but also a few guys (even one white teen guy)--with some traditional dancing. I say traditional, but it was like modern-traditional. 
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• Everything was in Burmese. Did I mention that? There were a few of us non-Burmese around, but I think I only heard English from the microphone twice the whole time, and other than that, just in the pockets of teenagers who had brought their friends.
• And then there was this on-going water fight the whole time. It was mostly contained in one corner, next to the playground, where the kids drenched each other. It reminded me of Pathfinder water-fights with super-soakers, water balloons, and a kiddie pool filled with water for reloading. Even the adults on stage received the occasional water pouring down their back--quite acceptable, and all in good fun. It wasn't really a water fight. It was a water celebration. This is also a tradition held in Burma, and my friend told me that for those few days, if you go outside your house, you will get wet. Kids, adults, everyone. 
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• We finished enjoying the show sitting down in the shade of a tent where the elders had been assigned to eat their meal. It was nice to sit down in the shade since it turned out to be a very sunny and comfortably warm day.
• At one point, I went to pick up my sweater from where I'd left it at our food table, and was stopped by a guy who asked if he could interview me for Voice of America. He just asked me what I thought about the festival, and I told him I enjoyed it--lots of good food, and it seemed like everyone was having a good time.
• We started toward the car to beat the rush during the grand finale, where all the dancers were invited to the front in a big circle for a final traditional dance together.
• And with that, we got back in the car, and headed back from our trip around the world in our own backyard. A day to be remembered!

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