people and culture 6

Rakhine


Hi. I am Khin. I am really sorry for delay by sending the articles in my blog. I am really busy within these weeks with all my school projects. Today, I want to write about Rakhine people. They are also known as Arakanese. They are 4 percentage of Burma population. According to the Rakhine history, Rakhine is come from Pali word that is Rakshasa means people who keep their race. The majority of Rakhine are Buddhist. They are one of the first groups who follow the Buddha in South East Asia. Rakhine language is very similar to Bamar language with a little bit difference with pronunciation and vocabulary differences. Rakhine families live together under one roof. The men and older people have the most respect in family but the women actively make the family decision. The marriages in Rakhine people are mostly arranged. Monogamy is the practice to their culture. When a couple married, the man moved to the wife’s family house. In Rakhine community, Monk is the highest position and Rakhine treat monks with utmost respect in their culture. The famous festival in Rakhine is Thin bok Swoon means offer food to Buddha. It held around November. In festival, they offer food, oil lamps and flower to Buddha images. They believed that this ceremony can bring peace and prosperity to the whole country and health and happiness can come to the people. This traditional ceremony started about two thousand years ago and they still continue to present time. The dance offering oil lamps to Buddha is the famous dance of Rakhine people.


Shan



Shan people are largest minority group in Burma. They are known as Tai means freeman. There are about 35 types of Shan people. 75 percentage of Shan population are Buddhist. They are gentle and peaceful people. Their culture is related with Chinese and Thai. But they have their own language, literature and history. Their greeting style is placing the palms together in front of the face. Shan people are not practice arranged marriage. Once the girl chose the man, the man has to meet with girl’s parents to get the approval. The groom has to give gifts to bride’s side. After the couple had approval from parents, they try to establish their independent household.

The famous ceremony for Shan people is Taunggyi Balloon festival. Taunggyi is the name of the city of Shan state. At that time, they launched many balloons in the shape of animals or many kinds of styles to the sky. It held around November.

One group of Shan people named Intha are very famous in Burma. They live in Inle lake mean small lake in Shan state. The transportation on the lakes is small boat. Their rowing style of the boat is unique. They stand at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar.