Waa is a Pali word in origin.It comes from Vassa, meaning staying in the same place. Vassa is Varsa in Sankrit, which the Thai pronounce it as  Phan-sa.  Or Vassana meaning rainy season. During three months of rainy seasons, monks and nuns have to stay in the same place to observe this three months retreat.  Awk Waa means the end of the three months rainy retreat.  Poy (bwe) is a festival, a word we share with Burmese.  I am not sure to whom the word really belongs in the first place.

The time of Poy Awk Waa is actually the time for Shan people to meet their relatives, friends and members of the community. A time for friendship and culture.  A time for sharing.  Also a time to make offerings to the Buddha and the monks and listen to sermons, written in poetic style and read by specially trained preachers called "Za-lay".

 

What the Monks Do

 

The full moon day of the 11th lunar month is the day the Buddhist monks hold an annual meeting called ‘pavarana’.  The aim of this meeting is to reaffirm their support and friendship towards each other before they can travel after having completed the three months rains retreat.

In the meeting, they have to invite each other to point out one's fault, if any.  The invitation stays for life but it is reaffirmed annually at the end of rains retreat.  This is to help keep the Order purified.  The best way to support each other is to offer compassionate and constructive comments on one another's practice.  A monk, who does not invite others to comment on him, is not allowed to accept any offering from devotees during the next month, especially Kathina robe or Sarn-karn Kathin, offered by devotees during the time of Poy Awk Waa.

This practice is, however, little known to lay people. But, for the Sangha, it is so important to keep the Order open and democratic. Seniority no longer counts on this kind of matter. All are equal.

 

Welcoming Awk Waa

 

A unique feature of Poy Awk Waa is the dance of Kinnari and Kinnara, the two mythical birds whose face look like human and are believed to be able to express their love almost as much as human can do. There is also a Sheep Dance, where two people perform the dance expressing the joy of this particular animal on this occasion.

 

Why These Dances?

 

The full-moon day of the eleven month of Shan lunar year is the day the Lord Buddha finished preaching Abhidhamma (psychological aspect of Buddhist moral teaching) in Tavatimsa Heaven and came back to earth.  He was supposed to land at a city in India called Sankassa-nagara (The city of Sankassa) at mid-night.

On hearing the news of the Buddha's descend from Tavatimsa, the Chief Disciple Venerable Sariputta and the people went to receive the Buddha.  The people brought with them all their best offerings.  Being farmers, some carried fruits, some green crops from the paddy fields. As it happened at mid-night they also lit oil lamps or candles.  They made a temporary hut (Kuti) for the Buddha.  "Kyuang Kheng Darng" or “Kheng Darm Bud” adjacent to their house where we hang all fruits and stuff from their green field.

The people were very happy to have the Buddha back on earth, so were the animals.  The animals danced rejoicing in the Buddha's successful mission in Tavatimsa and in seeing the Buddha again on earth.  The Shan culture of Kinnara-Kinnari Dance and the Sheep Dance are just the preservation of that outburst joy arisen in the people's minds on the full-moon day of the eleventh month of Lunar year.  The Kinnari-Kannara Dance represents all two-feet animals and the Sheep Dance the four-feet.

The Shans also lit a very big candle made of pine-trees; the biggest ones being erected in the temple ground.  I can remember vividly about it I experienced during my childhood.  It is to welcome the Buddha who Himself symbolizes the light of the world.

Tsai Sai Mao has a song on this Poy Awk Waa where he describes not only what has been said early but also a balloon with light in it (Huang Fai Minh).  This light bridges human world and heaven according to Shan literatures. The flying light goes up as high as the fuel allows it to symbolise human's aspiration for goodness.