Lighting Festival in Bago: Festival features with floating lamps, MSME trade fair

The Thadingyut Lighting Festival and the third floating-lamp offering ceremony, organized by the Bago Region Government, were held in Bago on the evening and night of 25 October. The opening ceremony was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Bago Region Chief Minister U Myo Swe Win, Region Hluttaw Speaker U Aung Cho Oo, Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Nyi Lan Cho and two local elders.

The Thadingyut Lighting Festival featured decorative light displays and colourful lanterns along Shwemawdaw Pagoda Road, as well as free-food donation pavilions set up by various government departments. The festival attracted large crowds of visitors from different parts of the country.

The opening ceremony of the traditional Myanmar Thadingyut floating-lamp offering festival was subsequently held on the Strand Road in the Zaing Ganaing North Ward, Bago. A total of 2,000 lotus-shaped oil lamps were jointly floated as an offering in homage to the Buddha.

Meanwhile, the Agricultural Machinery and Locally Produced Goods MSME Trade Fair, organized by the Bago Region Government, is also being held in Bago. The fair features more than 300 varieties of consumer goods, food products and traditional medicines produced by 42 local entrepreneurs from Bago Region. In addition, 20 agricultural machinery manufacturers are displaying and selling more than 80 types of agricultural equipment and organic fertilizers. Agricultural tools developed and innovated by students of the Government Technical Institute (Taungoo) are also on display. The fair has attracted farmers from various areas who have come to learn about and purchase the products.

At the Thadingyut Lighting Festival in Bago, colourful illuminations have been installed at prominent flower gardens, bridges, clock towers, government offices, the Hanthawaddy Night Market and along Shwemawdaw Pagoda Road.

The festival also features seasonal market stalls selling a wide range of goods, entertainment activities and performances by well-known singers and artists from the film, theatre and music industries. Their musical performances have drawn large crowds of visitors, making the festival lively and bustling every night.