Spectacular Myanmar lake festival shines amid political upheaval, natural disasters

Myanmar’s Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, a marquee Buddhist celebration and world-class tourist attraction, continues to draw crowds at Inle Lake despite a convergence of challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 army coup and ensuing political upheaval, and a devastating earthquake that struck central Myanmar this spring. At the festival’s heart is a spectacular gold-gilded barge bearing a carved image of the mythical Karaweik bird on its bow, which hauls four statues of Buddha to 21 villages around the lake. Dozens of smaller wooden boats are rowed by Intha fishermen who stand with one leg wrapped around a single oar to propel their craft.

Set on Inle Lake in the southern Shan state, about 420 kilometers (260 miles) northeast of Yangon, the festival runs for more than two weeks amid the lake’s mountain-fringed scenery. The coronavirus pandemic curbed the celebration in 2020, and the army’s ouster of the elected government in 2021 led to civil war and the event was suspended again, to resume only in 2023. Widespread flooding last year caused its cancellation as well.

An earthquake measuring 7.7 magnitude on March 28 killed more than 3,800 people and caused widespread destruction across central Myanmar, including Inle Lake. In the lake’s communities, many stilt homes collapsed or were heavily damaged, with some villages reporting up to 90 percent destruction. Local estimates of deaths ranged from 50 to 90, and a consultancy report said more than 13,000 people in the area were affected. While many houses have since been rebuilt or repaired in the traditional style, residents say the work is uneven and constrained by a shortage of skilled craftsmen.

Nyi Nyi Zaw, a 42-year-old Intha from Heyarywarma village, described the damage and ongoing recovery: “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.” He added that the tourism industry in Inle collapsed after the pandemic, then came the political change in 2021, and there was the flood last year, noting, “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,” she said.

The festival’s resilience underscores a broader struggle to preserve cultural heritage in a country navigating political upheaval and natural disasters. Even as the gold barge and the statuary draw visitors and worshippers, communities around Inle Lake work to rebuild homes and livelihoods, hoping the season’s tourist activity can help cushion the economic impact of recent crises.