Southeast Asia water festivals begin, but earthquake recovery blunts Myanmar's celebrations

BANGKOK (AP) — Several Southeast Asian countries kicked off their annual water festival holiday on Sunday, but in the wake of a devastating earthquake last month, Myanmar is missing out on the fun.

The holiday is an occasion for merrymaking during what is usually the hottest time of the year. In Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, millions normally take part in a mix of raucous play with uninhibited splashing of water on friends and strangers alike, and sober ceremonies to show respect to one’s elders.

Temperatures this time of year can creep above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Many who have moved to cities for work return to their native villages and towns to reunite with their families. The celebration is normally spread over several days, culminating on the actual New Year’s Day.

In Myanmar, the holiday is called Thingyan. But this year, the country is struggling to recover from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28 that devastated its central heartland, killing more than 3,600 people and leveling structures from new condos to ancient pagodas.

Central Myanmar was shaken again on Sunday by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in one of the biggest aftershocks since the March 28 temblor.

Even before last month's quake, Myanmar was reeling from a repressive military that seized power in 2021 and is carrying out a brutal war on the pro-democracy forces trying to unseat it. In 2020, the pandemic also quashed celebrations.

Still, the holiday offered a brief respite from the grim struggles of daily life in one of the region's poorer countries, and this is the first year Myanmar could celebrate Thingyan's inclusion on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, an honor attained last December.

A few days after the quake, the military government announced that this year’s festival would be observed peacefully in pursuit of traditional culture and would not include joyous singing and dancing, due to a nationwide grieving period.

People are free to celebrate privately and quietly, and items related to the festival, including water guns, are being sold in malls and stores. However, there is no government-organized entertainment. In Yangon, the country’s largest city, major festival pavilions and decorations that were already being built in front of the City Hall were dismantled.

People’s Square, a major celebration spot in Yangon, will not host the festival this year, but a traditional charity feast will be held without music and dance, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Thursday.

In Yangon, the downtown area near City Hall was quiet, in sharp contrast to many past occasions.

The only visible signs of the holiday were the sights of children playing with water in the streets of residential neighborhoods, and mostly elderly people going to Buddhist monasteries and pagodas for traditional prayers.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, state-media reported Saturday that a quiet celebration of the holiday’s recognition by UNESCO would include events such as applying Thanaka, a yellowish-white paste made from ground tree bark as a traditional natural cosmetic, gently washing the heads and cutting the nails of elderly people as a gesture of respect, and donating food.

Neighboring Thailand, where the holiday is called Songkran, was expected to celebrate with revelry as usual. It sees a mass exodus of the workforce in the capital, Bangkok, return to their upcountry home towns, often extending what is officially a three-day holiday into an entire working week.

Foreign tourists join locals in almost orgiastic water fights, especially in Bangkok’s Khao San Road backpackers district. Water pistols are merely small arms. It is not unusual to see huge buckets of water dumped on any convenient target. Moving vehicles serve as both platforms and targets for attacks.

The holiday is historically pegged to a seasonal movement of the sun, critical to largely agrarian societies. The water hijinks originated in olden days as a ceremony to welcome rainy season. A traditional ritual still practiced by many involves cleansing images of the Buddha and washing the hands and feet of elders.

There is a darker side to the goings-on, as well. Thailand already has one of the world’s highest rates of traffic fatalities, which spikes during Songkran with so many on the move and often inebriated.

Cambodia, where the holiday is called Choul Chnam Thmey, and Laos, where it is Pi Mai Lao, have similar celebrations, generally smaller in scale and less raucous than those in Thailand.

——-

Associated Press writer Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.

Thai woman is drenched in water to foreigner during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

People splash water during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A woman reacts as water is splashed on her during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Thai people put powder on the face of a foreigner during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Woman play water during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

People splash water during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A man reacts as water is splashed on him during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

People splash water during the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Thai people with faces stained with paint take part in the Songkran water festival to celebrate the Thai New Year in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Local blessing dancers sit on a motor-cart as they head to dance through the villages to celebrate the traditional New Year holiday at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Sunday, April 13. 2025. People celebrate the traditional New Year holiday between April 14-16.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Villagers buy flowers to celebrate the traditional New Year holiday at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Sunday, April 13. 2025. People celebrate the traditional New Year holiday between April 14-16. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Local blessing dancers prepare a traditional mask tools as they head to dance through the villages to celebrate the traditional New Year holiday at the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 13. 2025. People celebrate the traditional New Year holiday between April 14-16. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian garment workers heading to their home village to celebrate the traditional New Year holidays sit in an overcrowded van on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, April 12. 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A man applies Thanakha, traditional make-up, on his child’s face as they take part in the first day of annual water festival also known as "Thingyan," in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Myanmar's Rakhine ethnic women make sandalwood liquid to make fragrant water as they prepare to doze the fragrant water on Buddha images during the first day of annual traditional water festival also known as "Thingyan", in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Myanmar's Rakhine ethnic women make sandalwood liquid to make fragrant water as they prepare to doze the fragrant water on Buddha images during the first day of annual traditional water festival also known as "Thingyan", in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

A girl applies Thanakha, traditional make-up, on her face as she takes part in the first day of annual water festival also known as "Thingyan," in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

A boy throws water to revelers on a tri-cycle during the first day of annual traditional water festival also known as "Thingyan", in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

People take part in the first day of annual water festival also known as "Thingyan," in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

People take part in the first day of annual water festival also known as "Thingyan," in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Children take part in the first day of annual water festival also known as "Thingyan," in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Children wearing face masks wait to throw water during the first day of annual traditional water festival also known as "Thingyan", in Yangon, Myanmar, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

LONDON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the U.K. equalities law defines a woman as someone born biologically female.

Justice Patrick Hodge said five judges at the court had ruled unanimously that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman.”

The ruling means that a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.

The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament stating that there should be a 50% female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies. That law included transgender women in its definition of women.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) —

The U.K. Supreme Court is poised to rule Wednesday in a legal challenge focusing on the definition of a woman in a long-running dispute between a women’s rights group and the Scottish government.

Five judges at Britain's highest court are scheduled to rule whether a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female can be regarded as a woman under equality laws.

While the case centers on Scottish law, the group bringing the challenge, For Women Scotland (FWS), has said its outcomes could have U.K.-wide consequences for sex-based rights as well as everyday single-sex services such as toilets and hospital wards.

The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament stating that there should be a 50% female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies. That law included transgender women in its definition of women.

The women's rights group successfully challenged that law, arguing that its redefinition of “woman” went beyond parliament's powers.

Scottish officials then issued guidance stating that the definition of “woman” included a transgender woman with a gender recognition certificate.

FWS sought to overturn that.

“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men, and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation," the group’s director Trina Budge said.

The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court.

Aidan O’Neill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges — three men and two women — that under the Equality Act “sex” should refer to biological sex and as understood “in ordinary, everyday language.”

“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” he said on Tuesday. "It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”

The women's rights group counts among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The “Harry Potter” writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.

Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicts with human rights.

Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the U.K. and abroad.

“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim,” the human rights group said.

FILE - The entrance of the Supreme Court in London, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)