You have probably noticed the full moon a few days back, but have you heard of the Paungde Buddha Tooth Relic Festival?
Paungde Buddha Tooth Relic Festival on the full moon day of Tawthalin (1st October 2020).
Paungde is about one and a half hour’s drive south of Pyay and the Buddha Tooth Relic festival is celebrated on the Full Moon Day of Tawthalin.
The Buddha Tooth Relic arrived in Myanmar on 8 September 1897 and Abbot U Wimala of the pagoda asked U Pho Mya and his wife Daw Nu and some other chosen people to travel to Sri Lanka, where the original and true Tooth Relic had been preserved.
Once the group arrived in Sri Lanka and had paid their respects, the group supervised the making of a copy of the Tooth using the inner part of an elephant’s left tusk. This ivory replica was then placed beside the original Tooth and left for 15 days. After this, the Tooth Relic was transported to Myanmar.
Now, every year, there is the Tooth Relic Procession in the Buddha Tooth Relic Pagoda in Paungde. The Relic is shown around the town carried on an elephant and escorted by suitably attired soldiers of older times.
Tag friends and family in Paungde and ask them to upload pictures from previous years!
As part of our Online Festivals Series in collaboration with Exploration Travel we share a short story and pictures about each festival that is supposed to take place but cannot due to COVID-19, and invite you to add your own pictures, stories and memories of the festival.
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