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.
