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Information for Hot Air Balloon Festival
After the monsoon has retreated, the skies becoming visible again with the coming of the better weather, our tourist season begins. November is a month noted to be the best time to travel as there is no more rain and the environs are still green, no more muddy and not yet dusty everywhere in the region. It is also a time of clear, bright blue, azure skies with hardly any clouds and the weather is favorable and good time to keep alive our ancient tradition. At that time of the year, the Hot Air Balloon Festival is usually celebrated on a grandeur scale. The festival has now become a proud tradition of the Shan people and is also a major tourist attraction.
Hot Air Balloon Festival is held in commemoration of offering lights to the " Sula Mani Pagoda " built in Tavatimsa (realm of the celestial beings). Jatakas (the Buddha's birth stories) relate that when Prince Theidatta made a great renunciation to become the Buddha, He sheared His Hairs and flung them into the sky, there and then the
Thagyarmin (King of the celestial beings) took them to enshrine in the Sula Mani Pagoda. To honour this Sula Mani Pagoda, huge fire balloons are released and floated high above the sky throughout the country.
Also in Taunggyi, a capital of the southern Shan State, the festival is celebrated annually on a grand scale for 6 days. Lu Ping festival commonly known as hot balloon festival is said to have been the origin of Pa-O minority, one of the many ethnic groups in the region. There, the word Lu Ping generally means eliminating all evil by giving alms and offertories to Buddhist monks. On the occasion, people also enjoy fun and merriment by holding firework and hot air balloon launching competitions, competing over their beauty, lasting hours in the air and attitude they can gain.
Day balloons are usually in the form of Pagodas and animals such as elephant, dragon or duck while the night balloons are usually in the shape of rugby ball, huge elongated paper balls with small-lighted multicolored paper lanterns hung around their sides. Every balloon is hand-made using bamboo frames and locally produced paper, made from the mulberry plant.
Night balloons are larger and more elaborate, equipped with firecrackers and fireworks. The pyrotechnic display starts at a pre-determined height. All the fireworks are traditionally made, using gunpowder, charcoal and a little bit of magnesium.
On this great occasion, over 350 balloons are released throughout the festival every year. It is a great opportunity to observe this marvelous festival held once a year in Myanmar.
(The exact dates of the festival vary from year to year according to the Myanmar lunar calendar.)
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