Jalkeli Festival

Meet the New Year with water, music and consent at the centre of every splash.

In mid-April, selected Marma Sangrai programmes in Bandarban and Rakhine New Year programmes in coastal Bangladesh may include public water celebration alongside worship and community gatherings. Rooted in ancient Buddhist traditions, this festival is a magnificent physical manifestation of letting go. Water, the ultimate symbol of purity and life, is used to joyously wash away the sorrows, sins, and fatigue of the passing year, making way for a fresh, untainted beginning. For the adventurous international traveller, Jalkeli is a sensory delight and an invitation to partake in pure, unadulterated joy.

The visual landscape of the festival is incredibly striking. Elaborately decorated pavilions, or pandals, are constructed from bamboo and adorned with wild orchids, palm leaves, and colourful paper flags. In the centre of these pavilions sit large, ornate silver bowls and wooden boats filled to the brim with clean, cool water infused with the sweet scent of rose petals and sandalwood. Young men and women, dressed in their finest, vividly coloured traditional handlooms, gather around these water stations. What begins as a polite, ceremonial sprinkling of scented water quickly escalates into a roaring, high-energy, and completely infectious water fight.

The atmosphere is electric, fuelled by the rhythmic thumping of traditional drums and joyful folk songs. It is a highly interactive, barrier-breaking experience where language and nationality dissolve instantly into shared laughter.

Yet, underneath the playful splashing lies a deep current of spiritual reverence. The mornings of the festival are spent in quiet devotion at beautifully illuminated pagodas, where elders bathe statues of the Buddha with fragrant water. The Jalkeli Festival beautifully balances this quiet, meditative devotion with roaring communal jubilation.

Jalkeli is not one uniform event shared identically across every Marma and Rakhine settlement. Names, rituals, venues and who may participate vary. Attend only a publicly announced programme or one arranged by a trusted local host. Ask before splashing anyone, keep water away from cameras and sacred objects, and do not enter pagoda rituals or private courtyards uninvited. Use clean water only where organisers provide it. The quiet devotional parts and the public water play may happen at different times; both deserve respect. A visitor’s role is to follow the community’s rules, not to turn the celebration into an unrestricted water fight.