During Thingyan festival (Water festival) have splashed each other with water since time immemorial. Nowadays merry making during the festival has drastically changed. The main cause of the change is the marquees of the business and enterprises.

Commercial people do not try to make better marquees but they just make sure the crowds gathering at the marquees are attracted well and the advertising promoted.

Most of the commercial enterprises show their trademarks and trade names everywhere at the marquees. Company products are kept inside and distributed in front of the stages of the marquees. Of course, the company staff takes care of the task of distributing the products. New year festival is the time when they are not allowed to be absent from company duty excepting the long holidays. This is also the only period when commercial enterprises provide their employees with meals and pays double the normal salaries. It is said so.

Some of company staff wearing T-shirts with trademark labels douses the revelers with water from hoses of the company marquees. The night to use hoses at the stage are sold at place. It is learned that a fee of 6000 kyats is paid for the rental of a hose for four days of Thingyan. Youths rent the hoses mostly.

Another way to attract crowds to Thingyan marquees is to invite well-known vocalists. Most of the marquees do so at this time and fees go up considerably. Famous singers Like Tun Eindra Bo charge KS 200000 for a single stage show performance normally but during Thingyan festival the fees go up to KS.500000 usually.

Majority of the merry-makers go round the town in cars to see the marquees. Since the cars use lot petrol, the petrol prices soar too. Another price to go up is the car rentals for most of the revelers have to hire cars. Normally, a day's rental for a passenger jeep is Ks 5000 but at this time of the year it too goes up to Ks 35000.

The revelers who cannot afford hired cars go by bus but even the bus fares go up five times the regular fares during these long holidays.

In Myanmar, rising of the commodity prices at the time of New Year is nothing new. In fact, Myanmar conserves its cultural heritage so well and yet she is making sophisticated changes Little by Little along with economic development as the years go by, I observe.