Traditions of Bagan
A plain of thousands of old temples on the Irrawaddy, still alive with pilgrimage and lacquerware.
Bagan was the capital of an early Burmese kingdom between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, and thousands of its brick temples and stupas still rise from the plain. Many are still used for worship. Lacquerware made in nearby Myinkaba is a living craft, and the town draws pilgrims at full moon festivals.
Temples in use
Local people offer flowers, water and gold leaf at shrines. Novice monks are ordained in the shinbyu ceremony, in which a boy dresses as the young prince Siddhartha before putting on monk's robes. Full moon days are the main festival days. The Thingyan water festival in April marks the Burmese new year.
At the table
Mohinga, a fish and rice noodle soup eaten for breakfast, is Myanmar's national dish. Tea leaf salad, lahpet, is offered to guests and served at ceremonies. In Bagan, people grow groundnuts and sesame, and cook with the oil. A meal is rice with curries, soup and many side dishes.
Signature traditions of Bagan
Also part of it, and being written: Mohinga (The national dish of Myanmar.), Lahpet (The fermented tea leaf of Burma.).
A trail idea for Bagan
- Ananda Temple A white temple with four standing Buddhas.
- Myinkaba lacquerware workshops See layers of lacquer applied by hand.
- Irrawaddy river sunset Ride a boat past the temple plain.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Thingyan: Pagan era painter(s), Public domain, source
- Shinbyu: Lionslayer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source