The six-day spirit or "nat" celebration takes place in Taungbyone village, around 20 kilometres from the central city of Mandalay.

It draws thousands of revellers each year in search of karmic reward as well as all-night parties. The festival is incredibly LGBT friendly as many well-regarded mediums are gay or transexual.

Same-sex relations are criminalised under Myanmar's colonial-era penal code, and although the law is not strictly enforced, activists say it is still used by authorities to discriminate and extort.

But taboos around homosexuality have begun to relax after a quasi-civilian government replaced military rule in 2011. Myanmar held its first gay pride celebrations in May 2012.

Learn more about the festival below: