Myanmar is marking the end of the rainy season with the annual Tazaundaing festival, an eight-day celebration featuring fireworks and giant balloons, made of bamboo and paper, which are launched into the night skies.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, teams from different government ministries on Monday sent up 14 different balloons in a competition to show off their creativity.

The Tazaundaing festival of light began under British colonial rule in the last century.

It’s since evolved into a much-loved national fixture.

The main centre is in Taunggyi in eastern Shan State but similar events are held around the country.

The festival is being held against a background of civil war, ignited by the military’s overthrow of the elected government in 2021.

The authorities lost huge swathes of territory to pro-democracy militias and allied ethnic armies but are clawing some of it back through renewed offensives and political pressure from China against their opponents.

An election is planned, beginning in December.

Critics have called it a sham, designed to give the appearance of legitimacy to military control.

The winning party at the last two elections, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, was ordered dissolved in 2023, along with dozens of other opposition parties.