Monday 13 April 2015

Celebrating the new year in Southeast Asia

A boy runs as he is sprayed with water during the opening ceremony of the annual Thingyan water festival celebrations outside Yangon City Hall in Yangon, Myanmar Monday, April 13, 2015. Myanmar began celebrating its annual days-long water festival, known as Thingyan, on Monday, marking the new year according to the traditional Burmese lunisolar calendar.
In this photo by Khin Maung Win, a boy runs as he is sprayed with water during the opening of the Thingyan water festival in Yangon, Myanmar. The water festival, known as Songkran in Thailand, marks the new year across Southeast Asia. Traditionally, people sprinkle water on their family members and elders and pay their respects to Buddha. In the region's big cities, the festival is three days of water-soaked play, with locals and tourists being splashed with buckets of water, hoses and super soakers as they gather in the streets.