Today if Full Moon Day of Tazaungmone, the eighth month in the Burmese calendar. It usually falls in November in the Western calendar. The full moon of Tazaungmone marks the end of the rainy season in Myanmar as well as the end of the Kathina festival during which monks are offered alms including new robes.
The number nine is a lucky and auspicious number in Myanmar and 9,999 candles are lit up as offerings to Buddha in the Chaukhtatgyi Paya Pagoda on the night of the full moon day of Tazaungmone.
Following on from Thadingyut, celebrated on the previous full moon, Tazaungmone is another festival of lights as the festival of Tazaungdaing is also held at this time. Across Myanmar, hot-air balloons are lit with candles and released into the night sky. The balloons are released as an offering to the home of the devas in Buddhist cosmology and as a way to drive away evil spirits.
Today was the premier, in 1896, of Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Op. 30 by Richard Strauss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdziw4tI9o
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