The Tazaungdaing Festival, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a national holiday held on 6th November this year. The festival is held on the full moon of Tazaungmon, the eight month of the Burmese Calender and also marks the end of the rainy season in Myanmar. During the festival robe weaving competition to weave yellow monk robes known as matho thingan are held throughout the country. The competitions are held for two consecutive nights, the night before the full moon and the night of the full moon, and the contestants weave throughout the night to produce the garments. A good place to witness this competition is at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. In Shan State, primarily in Taunggyi, hot air balloons lit with candles are released into the air. Hot air balloon competitions are held both at night and day. The day competitions will usually feature balloons in the form of pagodas and animals whereas the night competitions will feature balloons in huge stretched out ball shapes and smaller multicolored paper lanterns. The balloons are released as offerings to Sulamani Cetiya, a heaven in the Buddhist cosmology and are believed to drive away evil spirits. Giving offerings or charity as a means of merit making or paying respects to the elderly and visit pagodas are also common during the Tazaungdaing festival .
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