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Warmly Welcome to Arakan (ဘုရားသာသနာျမီ ေမာင္ရို.ရခိုင့္ဌာနီ)
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Taung Nyo Treasure Huntaing
Once upon a time in Arakan, there was a small mountain near Taung Nyo Village . On top of the small Mountain , there was a small cave. One day, a treasure hunter came to hunt for the treasure inside cave by direction of his treasuring hunting book. He passed many lands, rivers and mountains to get there by carrying his small bag which had a small magic stick and his treasuring book. Arriving the gate of the small cave, he opened the door. At the time, he saw a giant snake came out of the cave to attack him. However, he quickly took his magic tablet from his bag and threw it into the snake mouth. Then, snick became tamed and let the hunter ride on its back. After approximately five minutes later, they arrived the end of the cave. It was a small wooden table at the end of a cave which had a small lamp on it. It was very dirty and it looked very old. The hunter got so disappointed because there was no treasure but little dirty lamp. However he brought this old little lamp with him. On the way back home, he saw an old couples farming and they were very poor. He approached the old couples and offered his small lamp to them. An old couple thanked to the hunter and the hunter head off to his way.
When an old woman was asleep in the middle of night, old man came out of the bed and began to clean the little lamp. He fixed the lamp and put some oil in it. Then, he lighted up the lamp. At the time, a giant ogre came out the a little lamp and he was on his knee in front of the old man. A ogre said to him “ my lord , what do you want”( Zar lo Ba Lay Ah Shon) . Seeing a giant ogre, an old man was so scared and he quickly put off the light. As soon as the light was off, the giant entered into the lamp and disappeared and old man went to the bed. The next morning, old man told nothing about it to his wife. He worked as usual and talked as usual to his wife as if nothing was happened last night. Beside, the speak from Ogre was echoed in his ear and he was thinking about it all the day. He said to himself, “ I must be brave and I must try it again tonight”. As sun went dawn and darkness came, the old man came out of the bed quietly and lighted up the little lamp. Then, he saw a big Ogre again who was on his kneed in front of him and asked the same question. The old man encouraged himself not to be afraid of Giant. The Ogre asked him, “ My lord, what do you want”. As old man loved to have opium, he answer, “ I want opium”. Ogre got a big smile on his face and gave the old man a handful of opium. The next morning, the old man was asleep soundly and his wife was puzzled with him. She was wonder why her husband did not woke up early today. As she found some opium, she would like to know where her husband got money to buy it. At the lunch table, old woman asked her husband if he was doing something behind her that she did not know. Old man tried to cover the story but he was not able to control it for a long time as old woman got tear in her eye. She was very pleased to hear it and told her husband about her plan.
In that night, old couple put light on the lamp and the Ogre came out as usual. He was on his knee and ask what they want from him. Old woman shut her husband moth up not to ask Opium again and he asked the Giant. “ we want gold”. Ogre agreed and give them lots of gold. Form that day onward, an couple became very rich and they lived happily by doing a little farming. One day, old man consulted his wife that he wanted to find the owner of the lamp to give it back as they were so rich. He said to his wife, “ my love, we have no sons or daughters and who is going to have all the gold we have. I think we should give the lamp back to treasure hunter. He must have family to feed.” . Old woman agreed and they started to enquired where the hunter was. A few month later, he heard that a hunter would come to sell the fruits in the village of Tha Won Chaung which was next to his village. Old man rushed to the Tha Won Chaung Village. When he saw young hunter , he called him and asked him to come with him to his home. He said, “ my dear young man, you must come with me now. I have very important thing to show you. You must not bother what you have got now. You must leave your boat here and come with me right now”. At first, hunter refused to come with him as he have to respect his customers and he did not want his business ruin. But an idea came into his mind and he remembered his little lamp that he had given to old man. Therefore, he agreed to come with man and reminded himself not to forget to bring his bed.
Off they went to the old man's farm. When they arrived the couple house, old man let hunter sit and take a rest for a while. A movement later, his wife brought little lamp and put on the light in front the hunter. Old man said to him, “ my dear young man, look carefully”. Hunter saw a giant Ogre came out the lamp and he was on his knee. Treasure hunter took his magic stick out of his bed and beat the Ogre. Ogre became lifeless. It fall dawn on the floor and died. Hunter took the Ogre eyes out and swallowed them and Ogre turned to the gold. The old couples were so surprised and they were very sad as Ogre was dead. Old man was very crossed with hunter and asked him, “what have you done? Why did you kill him? He gave us what we asked and you should not have killed him”. Before the old man finished his sentences, the young hunter fled and landed on the roof of the old couple house and he said to them, “ my dear friends, I appreciate and thank to both of you for your loyalty . This is what I am waiting for. I think you have plenty of gold which you would not able to spent until you die. I would like to suggest you to share this golden Ogre to the poor people of Taung Nyo village”. After that young hunter fled away and disappeared.
An old couple shared goldem Giant to the people in Taung Nyo village as hunter had told them and the whole village became rich. They lived together peacefully and happily for ever. It is said that even a widow has got around 25 kilos of gold in that time in Taing Nyo village.
( Ps: Taung village is situated between Pauk Taw and Tha Won Chaung village and it is famous in Pauk Taw town ship because of 45 caves on Taung Nyo's hill. It is said that five hundred Arakanese carpenters built this 45 caves in a one night on their stop when they run away from the Arakan as the King ordered them to kill because they got problem between King's song and the song of the leader of the a carpenters. The caves are amazingly beautiful and it has curved from one giant stone in the hill and there are countless Buddha images inside each cave)
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Saturday, 16 August 2008
The Sound of Music From the Cemetery of Arakanese Countryside
The Sound of Music from the Cemetery Of Arakanese Countryside.
Did I scare you??? Or are you scared? You do not have to be. But I can understand that one could be scared when they happen to read the title of my article. You might think that it is the ghosts that are singing from the graveyard or the Cemetery. But no, it is not the ghosts who are singing but people -a real human beings including my father. But why? Why are they singing in the cemetery? Besides, not only are they singing but they are also dancing. Dancing? What kind of dance would they do in a cemetery? Cha Cha? Tango? Break dance? Cancan? No nothing like that . We calle it Ta Lar Aka, the dance of ta lar. I explain it to you what “Ta lar aka “ is.
It sounds a bit wierd, doesn,t it? Yes, it is. But this is one of Rakhine's ( Arakanese) typical tradition which is done at the funeral ceremonies. Well, of course, Funerals are something to be sad about but, as we are Buddhist, we understand that nothing last forever and every one will die one day. We believe in Karma and rebirth and our aim is to enter Nirvana after the ending of rebirth. When a person die, Arakanese people would like to wish the dead person to enter Nirvana as soon as possible in future as he or she wants to end this life cycle. I think this tradition is based on the idea of Buddhism. Well, let me go into details of what the Arakanese do when a person dies. I have seen a lot ceremonies like that when I was in my village. When a person dies, many people especially from the village head off to this house and people gather and help with all the work that need to be done. They put the corpse on a board which is made of bamboo( the board is the same size of dead person and it is make with green and fresh bamboo). We call it “Khat” in our mother tongue. The next day ,all the people who knew the dead person will come to attend the funeral service. According to each different situation, the body might be buried or cremated in the next day or kept it for a few days.
The interesting thing is that people prepare a beautiful box for the body and they make the most colourful Ka Ta Lar( see the picture) which is covered with beautiful paintings and the body in the box suppose to be carried with this Ta lar. They put the box into the Ta lar and carry it to the cemetery. The families follow, crying behind the people who carry Ta lar. When they get the cemetery , they would do dancing carrying the Ta- Lar with music. The Musicians would play the traditional music which is supposed to be played only for the funeral and sing . The song has only three sentences. It goes like this “Buddha say da nar.., Buddha say da na..Buddha say da nar... Aww lay lay Niban Ma pho.. Aww lay lay Niban Ma pho.. Naung dot ko Naung dot ko lay..” which means Buddha's goodwill, Buddha's goodwill, Buddha's goodwill, we wish you to enter Nirvana in future. They repeat thae song many times and dance to it. For many inspiring dances, the musicians would play different music. If we are lucky enough, a group of well-trained young men come from other village and offer some fantastic dances with Ta-lar. After around two hours of entertaining, they stop dancing and they will finish the follow. Dancers have to do some weeks of training before their dance. I remember that my father was very busy when some one die in the village. Well.. I think you know now about the sound of the music from the cemetery of the Arakanese countryside. It is not sung by the ghosts but by real human beings including my father..
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Philosophy form Lodon's Street Performer
Street Performer
I went to London on my holiday to visit my friends. Walking along the Themes river, I saw a street performer in a large crown. He was wearing Indian custom but he did not look like an Indian. I think he may be a Londoner or some where from UK. His performing was just about juggling but he seemed quite artist and was really good at making people laugh. As I could not helping stopping to enjoy my self, I saw many people came and joined. Looking at him and enjoying myself, My eyes went through the crown. What a variety of people form around the world. What a rainbow nations? . At this movement , a thought or philosophy came to my mind, a thought of why he can make all those different people happy. What was his ability or art that brought a crown happiness? How he made those black , white and yellow to become one colour? It is quite interesting and it must be an art. Through my knowledge and the study that I did in curative education helped me to see through him what his secret key was. The juggling alone would not make people laughed. So, what was that, it is just his sense of humour that watered his performance to grow and to be fruitful. People were laughing because he can make a sensible joke out of the blue. Beside, his spirit and his right attitude toward the crown were like tonic water that made the people to be heartened to enjoy themselves.
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