Myanmar’s Lake Festival Thrives Amidst Political Turmoil and Natural Challenges

INLE LAKE – Myanmar’s Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, a prominent Buddhist event and renowned tourist draw, has lost some of its vibrancy. This decline is attributed to a range of challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, political turmoil, and recent natural disasters, including a devastating earthquake.

Despite these setbacks, crowds gathered this week to relish the festivities. At the heart of the celebration is a grand gold-gilded barge, accompanied by numerous smaller wooden boats operated by Intha fishermen, who uniquely row while standing with one leg wrapped around an oar. The ornate barge, featuring a golden Karaweik bird on its prow, transports four Buddha statues to 21 villages surrounding the lake for veneration.

This scenic festival unfolds over two weeks on the mountain-rimmed Inle Lake in southern Shan state, a favorite tourist destination about 420 kilometers (260 miles) northeast of Yangon.

The 2020 pandemic dampened the festivities, and the military’s removal of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 — sparking a nationwide civil conflict — led to another suspension. The event only resumed in 2023 after cancellations due to extensive flooding last year.

This year, the celebrations returned, though they were marred by a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28, claiming over 3,800 lives and causing significant damage.

Central Myanmar was hit hardest by the earthquake; however, Inle Lake also suffered extensively. Many stilted houses in the water were obliterated, with up to 90 percent damaged or destroyed in some lakeside villages. Local, unofficial estimates suggest between 50 and 90 deaths. Reports from E Guard Environmental Services indicate that more than 13,000 people in the area were affected.

Many or most of the houses have been rebuilt or repaired in the traditional style, but not to the highest standards, Nyi Nyi Zaw, a 42-year-old ethnic Intha from Heyarywarma village, told The Associated Press.

He said the scarcity of local craftsmen skilled in traditional construction techniques, coupled with the urgency of repairs, was the problem.

“Not all the houses are standing straight, if you look carefully. To get them back to their original state, they will have to be repaired when the lake dries up in the summer,” said Nyi Nyi Zaw, whose own house was among those damaged.

“The tourism industry in Inle collapsed after the pandemic, then came the political change in 2021, and there was the flood last year,” noted Nyi Nyi Zaw, a former tour guide who turned to general labor after the pandemic. “It was like miseries overlapping one upon another.”

Ma Win, a traditional textile seller from Inle Lake, said locals continue to hold the festival despite poor business because it is a long-standing tradition passed down through generations.

“It’s been years since the Buddha statues came to our village. So we are participating as much as we can,” said Ma Win as she welcomed the golden barge.