Shwedagon PagodaThe Shwedagon Pagoda (, ʃwèdəɡòʊɰ̃ phəjá); ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named Shwedagon Zedi Daw (ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, ʃwèdəɡòʊɰ̃ zèdìdɔ̀, Golden Dagon Pagoda) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar. The Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, as it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present kalpa. These relics include the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa, and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama.
VesakVesak (Vesākha; Vaiśākha), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Buddha Day, and Phật Đản, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Tibet and Mongolia. It is the most important Buddhist festival. The festival commemorates the birth, enlightenment (Nibbāna), and passing (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha in Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism and Navayana. The name Vesak is derived from the Pali term vesākha or Sanskrit vaiśākha for the lunar month of Vaisakha, which is considered the month of Buddha's birth.
ThingyanThingyan is the Myanmar New Year festival that usually occurs in middle of April. According to the history, the first Water Festival is Thingyan as it started during the Kingdom of Tagaung (1st Century CE - 1050 AD) and become widespread and famous during the Kingdom of Bagan (849 AD - 1297 AD). It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. The dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar.
Karen peopleThe Karen (kəˈrɛn ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language-speaking peoples. The group as a whole is heterogeneous and disparate as many Karen ethnic groups do not associate or identify with each other culturally or linguistically. These Karen groups reside primarily in Kayin State, southern and southeastern Myanmar. The Karen, approximately five million people, account for approximately seven percent of the Burmese population.
Sittaung RiverThe Sittaung River (စစ်တောင်းမြစ် sɪʔ táʊɰ̃ mjɪʔ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittoung) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago Division. The Pegu Range separates its basin from that of the Irrawaddy. The river originates at the edge of the Shan Hills southeast of Mandalay, and flows southward to the Gulf of Martaban. Its length is and its mean annual discharge is around per year. Although it flows through fairly flat country, the Sittaung has a notorious tidal bore at its mouth which has precluded any but very small craft navigating the river.
NanzhaoNanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, Southern Zhao) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China. Nanzhao encompassed many ethnic and linguistic groups. Some historians believe that the majority of the population were the Bai people and the Yi people, but that the elite spoke a variant of Nuosu (also called Yi), a Northern Loloish language. Scriptures unearthed from Nanzhao were written in the Bai language.
Mon peopleThe Mon (ဂကူမန်;(Thai Mon=ဂကူမည်); မွန်လူမျိုး, mʊ̀ɰ̃ lù mjó; มอญ, mɔ̄ːn ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and several areas in Thailand (mostly in Pathum Thani province, Phra Pradaeng and Nong Ya Plong). The native language is Mon, which belongs to the Monic branch of the Austroasiatic language family and shares a common origin with the Nyah Kur language, which is spoken by the people of the same name that live in Northeastern Thailand.
Jingpo peopleThe Jingpo people (ဂျိန်းဖော) are an ethnic group who are the largest subset of the Kachin peoples, which largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Myanmar's Kachin State and neighbouring Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of China. There is also a significant Jingpo community in northeastern India's Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, as well as in Taiwan. While they mostly live in Myanmar, the Kachin are called the Jingpo in China () and Singpho in India - the terms are considered synonymous.
Bago, MyanmarBago (formerly spelled Pegu; , bəɡó mjo̰), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon language place name Bagaw (ဗဂေါ, bəkɜ̀). Until the Burmese government renamed English place names throughout the country in 1989, Bago was known as Pegu. Bago was formerly known as Hanthawaddy (ဟံသာဝတီ; ဟံသာဝတဳ ; Haṃsāvatī; lit. "she who possesses the sheldrake"), the name of a Burmese-Mon kingdom.
MawlamyineMawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , mɔ̀ləmjàɪ̯ɰ̃ mjo̰; เมาะลําเลิง ; မတ်မလီု, mo̤t məlɜ̤m), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancient city and the first capital of British Burma. The city is currently the capital and largest city of Mon State and the main trading centre and seaport in south eastern Myanmar. The Mon name which was previously used for Mawlamyine, Moulmein (; [mòt məlɜ̀m]) means "damaged eye" or "one-eyed man.
