Myanmar culture

If Buddhist temples and gilded pagodas haven’t crossed your radar before – perhaps you’re more of a Saxon church or gothic castle type – prepare to have your mind blown by Myanmar. More than 80 percent of Burmese are Buddhist, and the dominance of this religion is reflected in the many, many religious buildings dotted throughout the country. Some dazzle with their lavishness. Yangon’s magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda is outrageously opulent, and features a 99 metre high gilded stupa that dominates the skyline. Others are simply so numerous that it’s hard to take them all in. At the ancient city of Bagan there are over 2,000 temples and pagodas, all that remains from over 4,000 Buddhist temples originally commissioned between the 11th and 13th centuries. Walking around this site doesn’t really do it justice. You’re better off jumping on a bike and using two wheels to take in more. While here, you can delve back even deeper into Myanmar’s life, exploring Shwezigon Paya, a Buddhist site that also incorporates a compound dedicated to the pre-Buddhism deities, the 37 Nats.

It’s incredibly important to respect these holy sites while in Myanmar. Buddhism informs the culture and demeanour of the people here. They are quiet, polite and extremely modest. They don’t complain when tourists snap photos without permission or wander into temples in shorts and vest tops, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause offence. Dress modestly, ask before you take a photo of someone and check in with your tour guide about correct behavior in religious sites.

Traditionally, Myanmar’s arts and crafts are based on 10 highly prized skills, called pan se myo, which translates as the ‘10 Flowers’: sculpture in wood, ivory, bone and shell; sculpting with stone; blacksmithing; bronze casting; gold and silver smithing; lacquerware; bricklaying and masonry; painting; stucco work and turning. You can see evidence of these 10 skills everywhere; from lacquerware drinking cups used by monks to ornate masonry and tinkling brass bells found in pagodas and temples.

There’s a culture of smoking cigars and cheroots in Myanmar, and you can visit workshops where they are made. Cheroots are milder than cigars and vary in size from long and fat, to more like a cigarette. These contain some tobacco but also natural flavourings and barks. You’ll see local people puffing on them and they’re very much part of cultural life here. Traditionally, women rolled their own cheroots to personal recipes. They’d gather various ingredients, including crushed tobacco leaves, tamarind pulp, dry corn husks that were used to make filters, and remnants of silk or cotton thread from the family loom, and keep them in a basket fitted with compartments. This tobacco basket was important in family life and according to custom, if a woman rolled a cheroot for a man who was courting her, he was in with a shout.

Two thirds of Burmese are Bamar, but 135 additional ethnic groups are also recognised here, speaking over 100 languages and maintaining their own cultural traditions.

The Kayan people of southeastern Burma are often nicknamed the Long Neck People or Giraffe Women, because the women have traditionally worn brass neck rings to give the appearance of a lengthened neck. The Kayan belong to a much larger, ethnically Mongolian group of hill tribespeople who populated this area of Myanmar around 700AD, including the largest Kayah group, and 10 other sub groups. Collectively, these people are known as the Karenni.

The Karenni ethnic group originally lived in their own independent state, recognised by the British when they ruled here, but once Burma declared independence in 1948, it lumped together several states to make a new Karenni State (renamed Kayah State in 1952), promising the Karenni ethnic minorities independence later down the line. It never happened, and uprisings have continued to this day, making this the longest continuous civil war in history.

In 1996, the Myanmar government ramped up its plan to crush Karenni independence and gain control of this resource rich state by forcibly moving villagers out to the Thai-Burma border, to undermine support for pro-independence forces. Some Kayan people fled Myanmar, too, and were granted refugee status by Thailand. So, while some Kayan people still live in Myanmar, many now live in neighbouring Thailand, as displaced citizens with no rights.

So, seeing the ethnic Kayan people is complex, whether in Burma or Thailand, and as a responsible traveler, you should ask questions if you do decide to visit a Kayan village. Are the women genuinely happy to wear the neck rings? Is this still done for traditional reasons, or is it purely for show? Where is the money for photographs or entry fees going – directly to the women, or to a shadowy manager figure, who benefits most while the women themselves make just a few pounds selling trinkets and souvenirs? Check the FCO advice, too, since there’s ongoing military activity in border areas.

Like the Kayan, the Moken’s story involves displacement. Although these so-called sea gypsies traditionally spent almost all year at sea, only coming on shore during the monsoon, the Myanmar government has encouraged them to settle in villages, such as Ma Kyone Galet on Bo Cho Island. This attempt to assimilate the Moken into the wider regional culture hasn’t been a big hit with the Moken, but it puts them in something of a no-man’s-land, with a declining population, a nomadic lifestyle and unsettled legal status combining to leave them seriously marginalised.