Today is
Full-Moon Day of Tapotwe (February) and everyone from villages and towns around
Monywa have come to make donations at the 1,050 foot high Buddha image. Inside
the image the monks chant, waiting for the procession to begin.
First came the
dignitaries of the town wearing their special hats, carrying a portrait of the
founder of the monastery: Nar Ya Day Ba Dan Ta.
Over 400 monks
and maybe more than 800 laymen walked one behind the other and the people put in
whatever the monks needed e.g. instant noodles or, as I was entrusted, detergent.
Everything had
to be given to the laymen as monks are not allowed, among another 220 rules, to
touch money. Invitations had been sent out to monks in various parts of the
country: Yangon, the Shan States and Kayin State and Mawlamyaing which is the
fourth biggest city after Napidaw, Yangon and Mandalay.
My caring carers
wanted to get me out of the sun. We didn’t find a shady place, but a much
better place in which we could listen to and watch an orchestra from Hsipaw in
Northern Shan State beating on drums and gongs and making interesting gestures
with their hands and feet. There were several boy monks in the procession. All
Myanmar males must go through Shin Phu in a monastery to learn the Buddha’s
teachings. These young monks would stay in the monastery for just about a month
then go home having learned many of the rules.
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