Arakan National Day to be celebrated in Thandwe and Maungdaw on May 15

By DMG 11 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
11 May 2022, Sittwe  

Celebrations commemorating the ninth Arakan National Day will be held in Arakan State’s Maungdaw and Thandwe on May 15, according to event organisers. 

The event is aimed at reviving the national spirit and unity of the entire Arakanese people, as well as providing good practices for the next generation, the event organisers said. 

“The event is commemorated with the hope that the national spirit of all Arakanese people and tribes will be revived and that the national identity will not be lost and good habits will be passed on to future generations,” U Maung Ohn Kyi, chairman of the event organising committee in Maungdaw, told DMG. 

The event is scheduled to be celebrated at a sports ground in Maungdaw’s Myoma East ward with literary talks, traditional dance performances and sports activities. 

“The authors will give literary talks and traditional dance troupes will perform at the opening ceremony. In addition, the event will include traditional sport activities and concerts,” he added. 

Ko Thar Gyi Maung, secretary of the event organising committee, told DMG that Arakan National Day celebrations will also be held at Lay Myat Na Pagoda Hill in Thandwe with student essay competitions, football matches and local products sales. 

“The Arakanese doyen literati and abbot of Palay Yadanar Monastery and U Kyaw Thein Khaing, a Thandwe-born successful businessman, will give literary talks and the One Band, a local music ensemble, will entertain the audiences,” he said. 

Arakan National Day was celebrated in Thandwe in 2014 and 2021, and again this year. 

The Arakan National Conference designated Arakan National Day at a conference in Kyaukphyu in 2014, to be marked annually on the 1st waning of Kason, when the sacred Maha Muni Buddha Image is said to have been cast.