A Thousand Little Lamps
A free Mid-Autumn Festival coloring page. US Letter, portrait, ready to print.
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From the story “A Thousand Little Lamps” in Once Upon a Mid-Autumn Moon in Myanmar — eleven bedtime tales for ages 4–10, each with a word search and a coloring page of its own.
Lamps for a neighbor's path
On the full-moon night of Thadingyut, families set out little oil lamps. Su Su lines up her own, then looks across the lane at old Daw Mya, who lives alone and faces a stony path to the pagoda with no one to hold her arm. Su Su sets a clay lamp beside each stone. Daw Mya says the loveliest lamps were the ones lit with her in mind.
The picture shows a Myanmar town glowing on Thadingyut night: rows of little oil lamps along windowsills, walls and steps, a family lighting them, and the full moon.
Thadingyut, the Festival of Lights
Thadingyut is its own festival, not Mid-Autumn. It marks the end of Buddhist Lent, and for three nights homes, streets and pagodas fill with small oil lamps and candles. In Burmese a pagoda is a paya.
Who needs a light?
- Su Su could have stayed beside her own lamps. What made her think of Daw Mya's path?
- Daw Mya treasured the lamps lit for her. How does it feel when someone plans something just for you?
- Who nearby might need someone to think ahead for them?
Make the lamps glow
Color a pale yellow ring around each lamp, then fill the night with a darker crayon so the lamps look lit.