The Myanmar Overseas Chinese Association’s annual Thingyan festival in New Taipei City yesterday replaced traditional water-dousing celebrations with prayers and a fundraising campaign for those affected by the devastating March 28 earthquake.
A shrine was set up for participants to pour water on a Buddha statue at the “Myanmar Street” New Year fair along what is formally called Huaxin Street in the city’s Jhonghe District (中和), while Buddhist monks sprayed water on visitors seeking blessings.
The Myanmar Overseas Chinese Association had earlier announced the cancelation of the traditional water fight held for years along the street near Nanshijiao Metro Station for Thingyan, also known as the Burmese New Year.
Photo: CNA
Instead, volunteers held signs with QR codes along the street for people to make donations to the 328 Myanmar Earthquake Joint Relief Operation organized by the association and several other community groups, following one of the largest earthquakes to hit the Southeast Asian country in more than a century.
Southeast Asian food was offered to people taking part in the fair on Huaxin Street, which the New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department said is home to Taiwan’s biggest Myanmar-Chinese community, as well as restaurants offering dishes from Myanmar, Thailand and Yunnan Province in southwestern China.
Lee Pei (李沛), chairman of the Myanmar Overseas Chinese Association, said that the traditional water-splashing festivities had been replaced by prayers, blessing rituals and a fundraising campaign aimed at helping those in Myanmar affected by the March 28 earthquake rebuild their homes.
“We hope the earthquakes can stop. People are jittery because of the daily seismic activities,” a volunteer handing out yellow ribbons to tie onto trees said.
An Associated Press report yesterday said the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28 had caused 3,649 deaths and 5,018 injuries as of Friday, citing Myanmar’s military government spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun.
The earthquake was felt in neighboring Thailand and China, triggering the collapse of a 30-story building under construction in Bangkok, resulting in 32 deaths.
According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, 62 people remained missing as of Saturday.
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