Traditional dressing style show to be held on Myanmar Women’s Day

A festive occasion seen in the previous Myanmar Women’s Day.

Yangon June 27

In honour of Myanmar Women’s Day, a traditional dressing style show will be held at the National Theatre in Yangon from June 29 to 30, in conjunction with an entertainment program.

Myanmar actresses will wear traditional clothes. It also includes entertainment program by famous singers and a play created by director Ko Zaw (Dawn).

An organizer said: “The event will mainly contain entertainment program for women as it honours Myanmar Women Day. I hope that the program will give audiences full satisfactions.”

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Pathein umbrella in high overseas demand

Yangon January 24

There is an increased overseas demand for Pathein umbrella which is a product of Ayeyawady Region. About two-thirds of the total production goes to foreign markets, according to Pathein umbrella producers and exporters.

Hotels in Ngwehsaung, Chaungtha and Ngapali beaches and Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Taunggyi and Mawlamyine usually buy Pathein umbrellas for decoration while people place orders for wedding and novitiation ceremonies.

There is a high demand for Pathein umbrellas from Yangon, Mandalay, Magway, Bago, Mawlamyine and Hpa-an as well as from Germany, France, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and the US.

All-weather Pathein umbrellas made of bamboo are available in different colours.

Prices for a Pathein umbrella range between Ks-2,000 and more than Ks-100,000. Tourists from the EU buy Pathein umbrellas in Pathein Township almost every day. Companies in Yangon export about 400-500 Pathein umbrellas to Germany via sea routes yearly.

The Myawady Daily

Over 120,000 flowers showcased in Flower Festival

Pyi Oo Lwin January 2

The 11th Flower Festival, which was held in National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens in PyinOoLwin from December 15 to 31, was also packed with visitors this year and the number of visitors this year was more than previous year.

“The Flower Festival is held in PyinOoLwin in December every year. During the festival, we used 25 percent of fake flowers as sculptures could be decorated only with artificial flowers,” said U Wei Myo Aung, general manager of National Kandawgyi Gardens.

“The Flower Festival this year was more packed than previous year. In the festival, we managed to put fake flowers as less as we could. Moreover, we reduced the number of sculptures decorated with flowers,” said U Wei Myo Aung.

Nearly 120,000 flowers including yellow flowers from Thailand and China were showcased in the Flower Festival.

Htoo Foundation Group has hired the National Kandawgyi Gardens from Forest Department at a price of Ks-55 million per year under 15-year contract since November 2008. The entry fee of the garden is Ks-1,000 for adults and Ks-500 for children.

More than 100,000 visitors came to the garden during the period of the festival and about 50,000 visitors come to the gardens in other months.

The botanical gardens have three museums. The Fossils Museum houses fossils of mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates, and the Petrified Wood Museum displays fossils of plants, colourful stones, toddy-palm roots, as well as things made from fossils of plants.

The Butterfly Museum has various species of butterflies from Nepal, Taiwan, South America, Japan and South East Asia. Moreover, there is also an orchid garden in the botanical gardens.

The Myawady Daily

Ministry, Taninthayi Region Go’vt to maintain traditions of Moken people

The blue waters off the Taninthayi coast of Southern Myanmar are home to a race of people called Salons in the Myanmar language.

Also known as Moken, they are a nomadic people.

Yangon December 27

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and Taninthayi Region Government will join hands to keep alive the tradition of Moken people, locally known as Salone people, as their population declines and their tradition changes in response to modernization.

Moken people mainly live in Taninthayi Region’s islands in Myanmar, and are nomadic tribe of sea-based culture.

“Their population is small from the beginning. But with the passage of time, their lifestyle has also changed, and they have become modernized while their traditions and customs vanish over the time,” said director U Tint Thwin of Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.

“So, our ministry, Taninthayi Region Government and tour companies will join hands to maintain their tradition by educating them. Our plans include building schools for them, and help them learn their traditions and lifestyles such as underwater diving, fishing and so on,” he said.

The ministry also plans to hold Salone cultural and tourism festivals in order to keep alive their traditions, he added. 

“The population of Salone people has declined significantly. This is because of their poor health knowledge, excessive dynamite fishing and drug abuse,” said U Myint Maung, Region Resources and Environmental Conservation Minister.

Thought to have migrated to Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia from Southern China approximately 4,000 years ago, the Moken have traditionally lived on hand-built wooden boats called kabang for most of the year, migrating in flotillas between islands according to factors such as subsistence needs, wind patterns, security concerns and disease.

The Myawady Daily

Htanhsam Cave in Hopong becomes significant tourist destination

Hopone February 16

Number of local and foreign visitors is increasing day by day at the Htanhsam Cave near Nawngkha village, at the junction to Mongpawn, Pa-O Self-Administered Zone, 12 miles from Hopong, southern Shan State.

Myitta Khantan novice Shin Porisa found the cave. Cornerstones were laid for renovation of the cave on 12 February 2009. The consecration and Buddha Pujaniya ceremonies were held there the same year.

The mouth of the cave is about 35 feet wide, and the cave is more than 1,000 feet long. About 400 Buddha images made of gold, silver and bronze can be seen on the interior walls of the cave.

Visitors can enjoy wonderful scenes of stalactites and stalagmites, small stream and rocky lake inside the cave and natural scenes, hills and rock walls outside the cave. They can purchase souvenirs and gifts from the handicraft shops of ethnic people and fruits shops. Moreover, they can have meals free of charge at two public rest-houses arranged by the Htanhsam Sayadaw. Decorations are being made inside the cave.

Moreover, the Cave of Nang Hla Huam, who was a daughter of a hermit, also catches attractions of tourists in Saum Village, Hopong Township, more than 2 miles south of Htanhsam Cave.

Yadanarpon Newspaper

Traditional cane wears attract westerners

Yangon February 7

Myanmar traditional cane crafts are in high demand from foreign countries, U Kyaw Thu, the chairperson of Myanmar Cane and Bamboo Entrepreneurs Association says.

“Many western countries order Myanmar cane wears, mostly from the Europe, Australia and the countries in the Americas. They mostly place orders for wears like the cane box and cane wears for table decoration’’, he added.

Currently, bamboo and cane become scarce. Cane raw materials can be collected in the forest in Kachin state.

Cane manufactures are facing raw material problems due to the regional conditions and other circumstances.

A cane entrepreneur said: “Now I have enough raw materials collected last year, to produce finished cane wears. But I may face a shortage of raw materials in coming rainy season.”

Moe Aung

The Myawady Daily

Myanmar: The leg rowers of Inle Lake

 

Inle Lake fisherman Shan State, Myanmar

Nyaung Shwe February 3

A motorboat tour of this littleknown lake reveals a world of stilted dwellings, bloated Buddhas and ingenious fishermen.

Multitasking has never been my thing, so I watch with awe and a hint of envy at the straw-hatted fisherman patiently setting his net on Inle Lake.

Barefooted, he’s balancing on one leg on the prow of a narrow wooden boat that would probably upend if I attempted to stand there. Not that I’d be able to maintain such a precarious yoga  pose for long without getting wet.

The man’s eyes are fixed upon his light net. It wafts in the breeze, despite being tangled in the water hyacinth leaves. Deftly, he flicks away the vegetation while controlling his boat’s position through the gentle circling of a punt-like oar.

The fisherman’s right leg is wrapped around the oar that’s also tucked firmly under his arm. I notice he somehow grips it between his toes, and have sudden visions of a chubby pencil wedged between the fingers of a child.

“He’s one of the Intha people’s leg-rowers,” explains Sun Taw Win, my guide, craning back to look at me from his seat in our motorised longboat. In addition to fishing, the Intha grow fruit and vegetables on the lake. Ingeniously, floating vegetation is bundled to create islands tethered between bamboo poles. Farmers living in stilted houses harvest three crops of tomatoes a year.

“The farmers sell their produce at markets in towns and villages around the shore,” says my guide. “Many tribal people come to the markets from their homes in the countryside. It’s very good for photography,” he adds with a knowing look, nodding towards my camera.

Even in the relative cool of January the sun shines here much of the time. And that sunlight glints off the golden stupas of the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda. We moor alongside smiling locals, kick off our sandals and head inside.

Sun Taw Win leads me towards an altar topped by five odd-looking golden figures. They are, I learn, gold-bloated Buddha statues. It’s traditional for worshippers to show their respect by adding layers of gold leaf. Over time, the figures have lost their original cross-legged form and now bear more of a resemblance to golden eggs.

Our final stop is at the teak-built Nga Hpe Kyaung monastery, whose floorboards creak as we walk. “This place is known as the jumping cat monastery,” says Sun Taw Win.

Until recently the monks encouraged abandoned cats to do tricks for tasty rewards, entertaining visitors in the process. Animal lovers will be pleased to learn that this kind of thing is now frowned upon. Cats, however, continue to live in the monastery.

A tiny kitten totters past my feet and cowers below a cabinet containing manuscripts. A couple of Japanese tourists sit stroking a striped grey feline on a patterned carpet, while flicking appreciative glances at the life-size Buddha statue just feet away. Now that’s my kind of multi-tasking.

The Myawady Daily

Seminar focuses on expanding Thanakha dealing to global market

Yangon February 2

Intellectual Property Association has pledged to assist registration of Myanmar’s Thanakha, traditional facial cream, its chairman said at Geographical Indication seminar.

Thanakha is a famous traditional make-up. Myanmar people have been worn Thanakha paste on their faces to protect sunrays.

Thanakha trees can be found in places across Myanmar including Shwebo in Ayeyawady Region, Monywa and Wuntho in Sagaing Region, Pakokku, Yesagyo, Taungtwingyi, and Myaing in Magway Region, Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region, Hsipaw and Lashio in Shan State, Pyinmana in the central plains, and Toungoo.

The seminar was held in Ayadaw Township on 26 January, mainly focusing on expanding the country’s Thanutkha market into world marketplace and promoting awareness on intellectual property law.

Importance of market research, trademark and logo design that plays a crucial part in expanding the new market, definition and rights of Geographical Indication and Intellectual Property and business-related laws were discussed at the seminar.

Daw Tin Ohnma Tun, deputy chairman of Intellectual Property Association, Secretary Daw Khaing Khaing Oo and member U Thein Aung who serves as an advocate shared their knowledge and experience on IP rights.

“All businesspersons need to make registration of their own trademark at the Township Farmland Management and Statistics Department as there is no Geographical Indication law in the country,” said Daw Khaing Khaing Oo.

Local Thanakha growers and businesspersons attended the seminar.

Yadanarpon Newspaper

Rural folks visiting Ananda Pagoda festival in traditional style

Yangon January 25

Rural people living around Bagan ancient region are visiting Ananda Pagoda festival in traditional style as in the previous years. They are travelling en masse in covered bullock-carts as their forefathers did many years ago.

These rural folks parked their traditional cattle drawn vehicles in groups in a nearby ground where they erected tents for temporary stay during the visit. They cook food and spend the nights at these tents while enjoying the festival where they pay obeisance to the Buddha images, buy food and other necessities at the shops opened at the festival and watch plays.

We came from Myaythintwin village in NyaungU township in a fleet of covered bullock-carts as usual. We left our village five days ago, and nearly the entire village is now at the festival. Only the aged stay behind at homes. We use our covered bullock-carts as mode of transport as a mean of preserving our age-old traditions initiated since the time of our ancestors. We bring all the necessary household items together with us. In fact, we are farmers working hard the whole year. So we visit the pagoda festival for leisure as well as for doing meritorious deeds. Besides we can buy clothes and other necessaries at the many shops here, a villager told Myawady.

Ananda Pagoda built by King Kyansittha nearly one thousand years ago in Bagan holds its annual festival in the Myanmar month of Pyatho (January or February).

The Myawady Daily

Thanaka: The Secret to Myanmar women’s beauty

< AMM >

Myanmar is a special place with its own unique flavour and style, from the delightful tea leaf salads to the fashionable longyi. However, there is perhaps nothing more quintessentially Myanmar than thanaka (pronounced tawn’- uh-kuh).

What is thanaka?

Thanaka is the name of a tree that flourishes in the arid central parts of Myanmar. Myanmars have been using thanaka (Murraya Exotica) for thousands of years. It grows in the whole country.

Drier the region better the quality. The best comes from driest regions near Pakkoku, Shwebo and Ayadaw. In fertile areas it blooms in four years. It flowers in April-May and fruits ripen in August-September. Its soft bark gives the best thanaka paste which is used to cover the skin.

Why use thanakha?

Thanaka is valued as a sunscreen and as a beauty product that keeps the skin cool, stops oiliness, tightens pores, improves the complexion and adds a pleasant, soft fragrance to the skin.

Thanaka is also used as a medicinal product to treat acne, fungus, skin sores, measles, epilepsy, poisoning and fever. People in Myanmar believe that thanaka can cool the skin and they gained self-confidence after wearing it.

Who wears thanaka?

Thanakha has a mild aroma similar to sandalwood and its scent is appreciated by all people in Myanmar. Women, men and children apply thanaka to their faces, arms and legs for a variety of reasons. In rural areas men and women apply thanaka thickly on their arms, legs and whole faces like a mask before they go out to work in the sun to prevent sunburn and sun damage to their skin. Men and women working outdoors in urban areas do the same. Urban female offi ce workers who spend less time in the sun also wear thanaka for its beauty and cosmetic purposes, often applying it with make-up artistry, creating circles, squares with fine lines and leaf patterns on their faces.

How is thanaka worn?

Thanaka branch is cut to the size about 1 to 2 inches in diameter and 6 to 10 inches long. It is ground on an especially prepared grinding stone.

Thanaka wood is firmly held horizontally in fingers of both hands and ground with a circular motion. A little water is sprinkled on the grinding stone. Thanaka bark becomes a thick paste and it is applied directly to the skin without any more preparation or addition. In conclusion, Thanaka is a tree with a long history that the people of Myanmar have used with versatility. It has been a part of people’s daily lives for centuries. The natural log and grinding stones are still found in most homes and remain part of many people’s daily bathing, beauty and health regimes. As the world shows interest in natural products and ingredients perhaps thanaka will be seen in more homes outside Myanmar as commercially made products enter overseas markets.

The Myawady Daily

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Thanakha to protect ourselves from ultraviolet rays

Thanakha to protect ourselves from ultraviolet rays

=  Shwebo Thiri Malar =

Even after the terrible Nagis cyclone school children were still fi ne-looking with Thanakha on their faces. Thanakha is cherished by all the people of every age, all walks of life and both genders in Myanmar. Once I met with a woman wearing Thanakha on her face while on a visit to the United States of America. When I asked her whether she was actually wearing Thanakha, she told me that she was a Myanmarborn Chinese living in the US, explaining that the beautifier she was wearing was called Myanmar Thanakha which had the power to beautify the skin and refresh the mind and body. “What a shame!” I said to myself as I was wearing makeup then.

My grandma always sang the song praising the virtues of Thanakha whenever she grinded it on a circular flat stone. When I grew older, I began to love Thanakha. I thought my grandma always wore Thanakha on her face. Thanakha was also a medicine for her that could cure many illnesses.

Not only the city damsels but also the female blue collar workers and paddy transplanters love Thanakha too. The former wear Thanakha just to added facial beauty, but the former wear it for many other purposes including as a sun-burn resistant agent. The Thanakha paste has the properties of making the skin cool and smooth, having a refreshing and cool fragrance, beautifying the users. It also cures pimples and acne.

When we applied cosmetics to enhance our appearance at a wedding ceremony, grandma always warned us to wash our face with water and soap as soon as we arrived back home. She said, “Cosmetics may have adverse effects especially on your face as they are made of chemicals.”

Really, wearing cosmetics for long hours make us feel bad. So we have to remove these agents from our skin and wear Thanakha again to make ourselves feel better.

There are many species of Thanakha, and of them Shwebo Thanakha is the most famous of its kind. Shwebo region is a dry land located in northwest of Mandalay. As Shwebo Thanakha trees grow on the dry land surface formed with red rocky soil in the region, they have a thicker bark when compared with other species and can produce more fragrant liquid or paste (Thanakha liquid) that we apply on our face and body. Actually, Thanakha, the fragrant liquid powder of the bark of Muraya Exotica, induced by rubbing it round and round with a little water on a circular fl at stone is a unique Myanmar traditional beautifier worn by Myanmar ladies, young and old alike.

According to Myanmar Thanakha compiled by U Tha Hla, the best known type of Thanakha during the reign of King Alaungmintaya was at Tabwet village on the west bank of Ayeywady River in KhinU township, Shwebo distrct. The court of that time acknowledged it as the Royal Thanakha.

The bark of Thanakha trees grew in the region was yellowish red in color. They were cut and sold at the court. But now the trees had already been rooted out, so that even a Thanakha tree the size of pointed finger is very rare to find.

Anyhow, Shwebo region is still renowned for its Thanakha that grows in its the red rocky soil. The color of Thanakha is ivory. It produces an aromatic Thanakha liquid that is rather sticky. Its taste is bitter than that of its cousins.

Shinmataung Thanakha is said to be worn by the queen of ancient city state Beikthano (Vishnu). Planted in the mid country, it is mostly used in the regions of lower Myanmar. Large plantations in Kyaukse, Pakokku, Taungdwingyi, Monywa, Ayadaw regions are producing Shinmataung Thanakha in huge quantities. It is whiter and less smooth than Shwebo Thanakha. As  Shwebo Thanakha is smooth, aromatic and sticky, people who always wear it never wish to test any other kind of Thanakha. But the problem is that Shwebo Thanakha demand is much higher than the supply.

Large Thanakha trees can be found in Thabeikkyin, Tagaung and Kya-nyut at the east of Shwebo. Some call it Thihayaza Thanakha or Myaing Thanakha as they grow in Thihataw region. As the trunk is large, they are sawn and sold. When rubbed, they produce yellow Thanakha liquid that is less aromatic. But the liquid is sticky and smooth. Thanakha trees that grow in rocky soil have thicker bark that produces more Thanakha liquid than its cousins that grow in soft soil.

Some young women love to wear the sticky liquid produced from Thanakha roots. Mostly they produce yellow paste; some rub the roots together with shells. The paste is stickier and cooler than the paste from the barks. Its taste is bitterer and it is said to have higher level of medical properties.

Thanakha is grinding with machines to produce Thanakha cakes. One viss of cut Thanakha trunk can produce two viss of paste. We can get 0.8 viss of cakes when these two viss of substance were form into square-shape blocks and dried. Some people mixed other ingredients in making cakes. But pure Thanakha cakes are lighter than the ones mixed with other ingredients.

Cut Thanakha trunks are dried and then milled into powder. Thanakha roots produce yellow powder. Even young men applied Thankha power on their face as it protects the face from becoming oily.

There are also counterfeit Thanakha that is made from cut Thitpalway trunks which are similar to the real Thanakha trunks in appearance.

We the Myanmar women should use Thanakha instead of foreign-made cosmetics, as this practice can help cut foreign exchange expenditure of the state. Thanakha in reality is a natural substance that can refresh the mind and body and beautify the skin. What’s more it is aromatic.

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People shouldn’t stay too long under sun during Thingyan

Yangon April 8

The index of ultraviolet rays may be high during Thingyan Festival and people should avoid staying under the sun for a long time, said Dr. Tun Lwin, a veteran meteorologist.

“People visiting around the town will have to face traffi c congestion, they may be exposed under the sunshine for long and, sometimes, it may be very diffi cult to fi nd a shade. Wearing black clothes may also worsen the impact of the ultraviolet rays,” he added.

People should aware of the health problems resulting from the effect of the ultraviolet rays. People should be mindful of the diseases such as sunburn, skin cancer and eye pain, which the rays may bring, he added.

The level of ultraviolet rays has exceeded the safe point all across Myanmar since April 5, said Doctor Tun Lwin.

Thingyan or Water Festival is the New Year’s celebrations that take place in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand as well as Yunnan, China.

It is called the ‘Water Festival’ by Westerners because people pour water on one another as part of the cleansing ritual to welcome the new year.

Traditionally people gently sprinkled water on one another as a sign of respect, but as the new year falls during the hottest month in South East Asia, many people end up dousing strangers and passers by in vehicles in boisterous celebration.

The act of pouring water is also a show of blessings and good wishes. It is believed that on this Water Festival, everything old must be left behind.

Aung 

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" Shwe Sett Taw pilgrims also visit Bagan "

Shwe-Set-Taw Pagoda Festival

" Shwe Sett Taw pilgrims also visit Bagan "

= Thiri =

Mann Shwe Sett Taw Pagoda, located in the northwest of Minbu Township, Magway District, is visited by pilgrims all over the country during the festival, and the pilgrims also proceed to Bagan Region from Mann Shwe Sett Taw Pagoda on pilgrimage tour.

Although a lot of domestic pilgrims come to Bagan, the influx of foreigners to the Bagan is low when compared with the same period during previous years, said U Zaw Win Cho, president of Bagan Tourist Guide Association.

Most of domestic guests book hotels in advance in Bagan for Thingyan Holidays, but tourist guides take a break because the arrival of foreigners to Bagan this season is not as large as in the previous years.

As it is now Shwe Sett Taw Festival Time, a large number of people go from Shwe Sett Taw to Bagan for pilgrimage, but there are some people who go from Bagan to Shwe Sett Taw.

Shwe Sett Taw is the most visited place during this pilgrimage season and other places people frequently visit are Kyaik Hti Yo, Chaung Thar and Ngwe Saung.

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" Myanmar traditional water festival "

= Dr. Aung Than Win (Oriental Studies) =

eople in every country around the world celebrate their new year in accordance with their own style and traditions and customs. Myanmar people also have their own traditional New Year apart from observing another New Year according to Gregorian calendar. 

Myanmar New Year is also called Thingyan during which we pour water on each other with the pious deed of cooling and purifying both the body and soul. The Myanmar term “Thingyan” originates from Sanskrit word “Sankranta”: which means “move, shift and change”. Myanmar New Year is also the period of change between Pisces and Aries. Seasonal symbol is two yellow fishes and asterism is Rewati similar to a fish-trap. 

Constellation is Cassiopeia and the seasonal fl owers are Kant Kaw, Tharaphi, Yinkhet and Patauk. We the Myanmar people value Patauk as Thingyan flower and it is also the lord of the fl owers of the Myanmar month Tankhu (April).

The earliest known stone inscription that mentioned the word “Thingyan” can be found at Saw Hla Wun Pagoda dated ME 653 or AD 1291. So it can be said that Myanmar traditional Thingyan festival began during Bagan period.

In the olden days, Myanmar people mixed cool and clean water with some fragrance in a large silver bowl and sprinkled one another with sprigs of Eugenia in a polite and modest manner.

But nowadays, some people, both the youths and adults, are using water cannons in pouring water especially on young ladies which in fact is against the Myanmar culture. So everyone should avoid doing such horrible things that may harm others.

On the other hand, some people both young and old of both genders go to monasteries and keep Sabbath, to pagodas and do meritorious deeds, or to mediation centres and practice vipassana. Some men and boys ordain into temporary monkhood while girls and women into temporary nun-hood during Thingyan.

Thingyan actually is the time we purify our mind and body and do pious deeds for a better tomorrow. So let’s welcome the New Year 1377 with heart and soul.

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