Myanmar Punks Celebrate Eve of Thingyan Water Festival

Punks gather in downtown Yangon ahead of the Thingyan water festival, April 12, 2017.

People traditionally celebrate the festival by splashing water and throwing powder at each other as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the previous year. The Buddhist New Year is celebrated in countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and this year begins April 13.

A boy rests in a park of central Yangon.

Two women and a child walk past a group gathered in a park in central Yangon.

A member of a punk group plays with his one-year-old son as he and some of his friends gather in a park in central Yangon.

A group of friends take part in a gathering in Yangon.

A seven-year-old displays his mohawk hairstyle at the gathering in Yangon.

A punk wears a customized decorated jacket at the gathering in Yangon.

A man wears a mask at the gathering in Yangon.

A group of friends wears customized attire at the gathering in Yangon.

A man displays a mohawk hairstyle at the gathering in Yangon.