Novitiation ceremony is the unique characteristic in Myanmar. This ceremony usually celebrates during the school holidays, mostly in summer holidays at March & April before the water festival. In the Myanmar tradition the boys are compulsory to enter the Buddhist order for a week or more.
In the Myanmar Buddhist tradition it is compulsory that every boys over eight years old to twenty have to enter the Buddhist Order for a week or more as a novice and over twenty they have to enter the Order again as Ordained Monk. At least twice in his life he becomes a member of the Order and sometimes even more. They stay at a monastery is not considered a hardship because it is a blessing for the whole family as well as for the boys themselves. Monks or novices can stay as long as they wish.