AP PHOTOS: Spectacular Myanmar lake festival resumes after 3 years

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Inntha ethnic people row on a long boat in a procession carrying Buddha images to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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A large boat carry Buddha images during the pagoda festival tours across the Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people row their boats during traditional boats racing competition to mark the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people row on a long boat in a procession carrying Buddha images to a monastery during the pagoda festival in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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A large boat carry Buddha images during the pagoda festival tours across the Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people row their boats during traditional boats racing competition to mark the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people watch from their house to Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people watch from their house to Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people row their boats during traditional boats racing competition to mark the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people row their boats during traditional boats racing competition to mark the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people sit in their boat to watch Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people watch from their house to Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people watch from their boats to Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people drive their boats to watch Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people drive boats in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Local people drive their boats to watch Buddha images carrying to a monastery during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

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Inntha ethnic people carry offerings in a boat to Buddha images during the pagoda festival Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023, in Inlay Lake, southern Shan State, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

INLE LAKE, Myanmar (AP) — One of the most colorful festivals in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, involving scores of rowed boats and a spectacular gold-gilded barge, is being celebrated this month after a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic and violent political instability.

The venue is Inle Lake in southern Shan state, about 420 kilometers (260 miles) northeast of Yangon. Inle, the country’s second largest freshwater lake and a popular tourist attraction year-round, is famous for its fishermen from the Intha ethnic minority who practice a unique style of rowing while standing with one leg wrapped around a single oar.

Their skills are full display during the annual Phaung Daw Oo pagoda festival, which lasts almost three weeks. The fishermen row their boats to pull the Karaweik barge, an ornate vessel with a golden image of a mythical bird at its bow that carries four statues of Buddha to tour 21 villages around the lake so that people can pay homage to them.

The festivities also include leg-rowing boat races with each boat carrying 40-100 rowers. Hundreds of local residents on Thursday observed the activities from small craft on the lake, and more from onshore.

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The festival is being celebrated despite armed conflict across much of Myanmar, as the army seeks to quash resistance to its takeover in February 2021 that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Thousands of people have died in the conflict and more than a million have been uprooted by army offensives.

Opponents of army rule urged people not to attend the festival because the military could use it as a propaganda to claim that the country is back to normal under its control.

There were no incidents reported at the festival, where security was tight, but very few foreign tourists attended.