PEOPLE OF MYANMAR (BURMA)
MAIN ETHNIC GROUPS
312including Yangon’s Shwedagon Paya were appropriated by the Bamar
(though the Golden Rock is still in Mon State), and Mon tastes in art
and architecture were borrowed as well.
Today the Mon only make up just over 2% of the population of Myan-
mar, but Mon art and culture have infl uenced that of the Bamar quite thor-
oughly, as a trip to the Mon Cultural Museum in Mawlamyine will attest.Rakhaing
The Rakhaing (also spelled Rakhine and formerly called Arakanese) are
principally adherents of Buddhism; in fact, they claim to be among the
fi rst followers of Buddha in Southeast Asia. Their last ancient capital
was centred at Mrauk U in Rakhaing State, which borders Bangladesh.
The Rakhaing language is akin to Bamar but, due to their geographi-
cal location, they have also absorbed a fair amount of culture from the
Indian subcontinent. In the eyes of most Bamar, the Rakhaing are a Cre-
ole race – a mixture of Bamar and Indian – a perception that Rakhaing
strongly resent. It is true though that the local culture exhibits a strongly
Indian fl avour particularly when it comes to food and music. The Rakha-
ing are skilled weavers and are known in Myanmar for their eye-catching
and intricately patterned longyi.
Rakhaing State also has a minority population of Muslim Rakhaing, as
well as the Rohingya (see p 277 ), another Muslim people not recognised
as citizens of Myanmar by the government.Shan
The biggest ethnic group in Myanmar after the Bamar, the Shan, most of
whom are Buddhists, call themselves Tai (‘Shan’ is actually a Bamar word
derived from the word ‘Siam’). This name is signifi cant, as the Shan are
related ethnically,culturally and linguistically to Tai peoples in neighbour-
ing Thailand, Laos and China’s Yunnan Province. In fact, if you’ve spent
some time in northern Thailand or Laos and learned some of the respec-
tive languages, you’ll fi nd you can have a basic conversation with the Shan.
Traditionally, the Shan wore baggy trousers and fl oppy, wide-brimmed
sun hats, and the men were known for their faith in talismanic tattoos.
Nowadays Shan town-dwellers commonly dress in the Bamar longyi, ex-
cept on festival occasions, when they proudly sport their ethnic costumes.
In former times the Shan were ruled by local lords or chieftains called
sao phaa (sky lords), a word that was corrupted by the Bamar tosawbwa.
Many Shan groups have fought the Bamar for control of Myanmar, andTHE MOKENAlso known as sea gypsies, or Salon in Burmese, the Moken live a nomadic life drifting
on the ocean winds around the Myeik Archipelago, Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) Division.
Numbering around 2000 to 3000 individuals, scientists believe they have been fl oating
around these islands since at least 2000 BC.
Totally at home on the water, Moken families spend almost all their time on wooden
boats, called kabang. As the boys come of age they build their own boats, and as the
girls come of age and marry, they move away from their parents’ boat.
Breathing through air hoses held above the water surface, the Moken dive to depths
of up to 200ft in search of shellfi sh. For all their skill, this can be a lethal activity with
divers dying in accidents each year, mainly from the bends caused by rising too quickly
to the surface.
Like almost every ethnic minority in Myanmar, the Moken have suff ered greatly under
military rule; reports from the late 1990s talk of how almost all Moken were subjected
to forced relocations to onshore sites. For more information see http://www.projectmaje.org/
gypsies.htm.To find out more
about the Shan
and issues in
Shan State read
the Shan Herald
Agency for News
(www.shanland.
org).Rakhaing
Cultural
Relics
» Temple ruins,
Mrauk U» (^) Mahamuni
Buddha image,
Mandalay
» Rakhaing State
Culture Museum,
Sittwe