Religious

Traditional Foods
 

The Myamnar are a happy-go lucky people. Accordingly, they are sometimes referred to as the Irish of the East. No matter what, their merry and carefree spirit They are so fond of merriment and entertainment that even their funerals are accompanied by  Just imagine pall-bearers in rural areas performing  a tap-dance and you will realize the joyous attitude  the Myanmar's have towards everything including  death. Another countryside custom is employing professional mourners at funerals. At monks' funerals, the pall-bearers invariably perform their task with dancing steps, singing jolly songs at the same time. In days of yore, a Myanmar underwent twelve auspicious ceremonies in a life time.  Some of them such as baby christening name-giving ceremony, ear-boring ceremony no vitiation ceremony and wedding- ceremony have been retained to this day. Music is prominently featured In all these ceremonies. 

In addition, there used to be a major festival in every month of the year. The Myanmar's' love of festivities and, merrymaking reaches its zenith at Thingyan, the Water Festival. It is celebrated with acts of charity, water  throwing-g, singing, dancing, music and the chanting  of Thangyats or rhymed couplets that castigate  rnisconduct. During Thingyan, the revellers tease and taunt one  another to their hearts' content but no offense is taken Hospitality and generosity also are- dominant traits of Myanmar character. The fact that there are about eighty thousand  members of Sangha or Order of Monks in  Myanmar is a good indication of the charitableness  of the Myanmar's. I Even humble and miserable beggars, let alone holy  monks, have no need to worry about the  fundamental requirements of life. As a matter of fact, begging is so lucrative that some beggars have higher incomes than middle Myanmar hospitality can be observed every where- at-home, at the teashop, on the bus.  

At home something is invariably served to all visitors. Traditionally that something- comprises betel, tobacco and pickled tea. Hot or cold drinks, fruits and cakes are also served depending upon the time of the day. Anyone who drops in at breakfast or dinner time  is sincerely invited and even forced to partake of the meal.  If the invitation is accepted, the host an hostess keep on- plying the visitor with one helping after another of rice and curries until  the latter puts up his hands in surrender. If two friends happen to meet on the bus, each of  them tries to pay the bus fare of the other and one nearer to the bus-conductor usually wins Similarly, in a tea shop, three or four members of a  group can often be seen trying to pay the bill at the same time. The generous nature of the Myanmar's is nurtured by the Buddhist Jataka Stories, that is stories dealing with the former lives of the Buddha which portray the benefits of meritorious deeds. 

Buddhism teaches that those who perform acts of charity enjoy luxury and prosperity on various blissful planes of existence before they attain  Nibban(Nirvana), the complete annihilation or eternal bliss. Hence, Buddhists perform alms-giving as much as they can. Even the poorest family offers alms-food daily in memory of the Buddha and, at least, one spoonful  or rice each to a few monks everyday. Those who can afford it build pagodas and mon -asterisk and dig wells and tanks.Myanmars set great store by such titles as pagoda-donor, monastery-donor. ordination  ball donor and so on. Those who cannot give generously, at least ,, build a Yegyanzin, a small building containing  some water pots to quench the thrist of  passers-by. Another Myanmar characteristic is the tendency - to feel compunction. This feeling is so keen in some people that they never eat their fill when they are guests at the  houses of other people. Myanmar's are easy-going too.  

But the Mamma's did not mind nor did they envy -their exploiters. They maintain the momentum in working as little as possible but spending as much money as they can. Before World WarII, tens of thousands of acres of arable land belonging to Myanmar farmers fell into the hands of Chettier money-lenders in this way. .Their attitude towards life is: lie's take it easy since we are merely eking out a living out of necessity. One of the primary tenets of Buddhism stresses the impermanent nature of everything. This being the case, Myanmar's do not value material wealth as much as the Westerners do. Buddhists believe that everything that happens in this life~ is mainly the outcome of the good deeds  and the bad ones of the previous existences.   

Hence, they have little incentive for being overly industrious. The Myanmar's are also notorious for their disregard for discipline. Watch any street-scene in Yangon for a few minutes and you will realize the truth of this statement. Among other things, you will see a lot of  jaywalkers, and motorists who do not stop at the  zebra-crossings in favour of the pedestrians. At bus-stops, people scramble on to the buses  without queuing (up). The weak and the elderly are ruthlessly pushed aside and left behind. Children and young men can also be seen flying or chasing kites or playing football and other games in the streets with no regard  whatsoever for the safety of the passers-by. Queuing for something is a little-known practice in Myanmar. As a matter of fact, queues can be seen only at the cinemas and a few other places.  

Come to think of it, we should find ways and means of getting rid of the long queues for they indicate inefficiency somewhere and a waste of  time. In other words, queues show that something is being done slowly.Myanmars have a profound respect for  authority or authorities. In the United States, black-outs caused by power  failure are invariably-accompanied by widespread  lootings. In Myanmar where power cut-offs take place regularly, such lootings are unheard of as they have never occurred. - 9 A few thieves and burglars rnay be more a during power failures But other Untoward incidernts rarely occur In countries like India, riots tend to break out  the slightest provocation, but not so in Myanmar  Only two major uprisings have taken place Myanmar since she regained her independence 1948. Crime rates also are relatively low. Few major crimes like murder, robbery and  rap occur in Myanmar.  

Hence, paradoxically, Myanmar's who are notoriously lacking in discipline are apparently more law-abiding than most peoples of the world. The Myanmar's tend to be liberal and permissive in religious matters. Subsequently, there is absolute freedom of worship in Myanmar. Christian churches, mosques and Hindu Temples have been standing unmolested side by side with  Buddhist religious buildings since days of Myanmar kings. The reason is that the Myanmar's are a gentle  people. They are courageous but by no means brutal. The streak of gentleness in Myanmar character is  an outcome of Buddhist influence. To refrain from taking life is the first  precept of Buddhism. Some other religions prohibit only the killing on  human beings. Some other religions prohibit only the killing of  human beings whereas Buddhism teaches that the  killing of any creature is a great sin.  Accordingly, Myanmar's are reluctant by nature to kill animals, birds and even insects as well as human beings. 

Myanmar Kings made great efforts to propagate  the Buddhist Sasana, that is religion, but they  never resorted to the use of the sword in doing so. When Christian rnissionaries opened mission  schools in the days of the Myanmar Kings, among  the first to join those schools were the children of  the king and other members of the royalty. This shows that Myanmar's are open-rninded and  by no means bigoted in religious matters. his tradition is-still alive and thriving. Besides, there is no caste system in Myanmar as m  India nor is there any inviolable distinction between the higher and lower classes of people - as in Britain. In short, there is no discrimination of any kind in  Myanmar. 

This being the case, even a simple and humble  villager can rise to the highest position in the  country.  One wide chink in the Armour of the Myanmar's  is looking down upon everything Myanmar and thinking the world of all international trends. The seems to be the most enduring bad legacy of  having been. under foreign .rule for about a  century.