Yangon’s iconic Shwedagon Pagoda will soon welcome thousands of worshippers as it hosts the 2,614th Buddha Pujaniya Taboung Festival, a ten-day celebration running from 21 February to 2 March.
The Pagoda Board of Trustees confirmed that the festival will feature a series of ceremonies paying homage to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. Central to the programme is the recitation of the Maha Pathana treatises by 120 monks from Dagon and Bahan Townships, continuing for 216 hours until the full moon day of Taboung.
In addition, 28 Buddha images will be conveyed to the pagoda platform for public obeisance, while rice-offering ceremonies will honour more than 100 monks, including senior Ovadacariya Sayadaws. On 1 March, alms will be offered to 121 monks and 27 nuns in a procession beginning at the ancient Buddha images prayer hall and moving clockwise around the square.
The festival will conclude on 2 March with merit-making ceremonies at dawn and a final gathering at the Chanthagyi prayer hall. Organisers say the event reflects centuries of tradition, blending devotion with community spirit, and remains one of Myanmar’s most significant religious occasions.
For worshippers and visitors alike, the Taboung Festival offers a rare chance to witness rituals that have been observed for generations, reaffirming Shwedagon’s role as a spiritual heart of the nation.
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