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.

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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)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)