7 July
MYANMAR, the golden land, has many different beautiful areas with different fantastic landscapes. Moreover, there are different regions with different seasons. As Myanmar possesses 135 ethnic groups, these ethnic groups are being alive in different areas of Myanmar. The main ethnic groups, Kachin, Kaya, Kayin, Chin, Bamar, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and other sub-ethnic groups are being alive in their respective areas by doing their respective careers. Although there are only three seasons in Myanmar, these sea-sons may be different according to the geographical conditions.
Some regions of upper Myanmar such as Manda-lay, Sagaing, etc. generally face with low precipitation even in the rainy season. So, peasants in these regions encounter difficulties to grow their crops. As the weather is very hot in this season, the older people and the infants cannot be alive comfortably. So, the citizens of these regions try to rain according to My-anmar culture. This is called “Rain- calling Festival”. In Myanmar words, it is called “Moe Khaw Pwe”.
I have read about this festival. The festival has been originated in Bagan in the 12th century. By seeing the historical record, the festival was started from King Narathu’s reign in the Bagan era. At that time, Bagan was affected by severe drought, though the raindrops appeared in surrounding areas. The King was told that he was being punished by the spirit Kyaw Swar for killing innocent father and child. Therefore, the angry spirit made that town drought. So, his counselors advised him to host the tug-of-war competition or Lun Swae Pwe in order to make the spirit satisfied. In the document I have read, the meaning of the word “Lun” is “committing” and the word “Swae” means “taking back”. By organizing the competition, the king was committing himself to take back his offense. After the competition, the dark clouds appeared and started raining.
So, the tug-of-war competition is included in the rain-calling festival. Before the competition is started, the hosts and the competitors need to ask for the spirit, Moe Khaung Kyaw Swar, to permit the competition by offertory consisting of bananas, coco-nut, and a bunch of flowers by reciting verses. They believe that the spirit “Moe Khaung Kyaw Swar” will help the tug-of-war competition to hold successfully. At the middle of the rope, a small bunch of flower is tied. And a line is drawn between the two teams who will compete in the competition. The reason why these things are set is to decide which team is the winner.
Not only host the competition but they also make a stage on which a per-son who has worn the royal outfit of the spirit “Moe Khaung Kyaw Swar”, dance Myanmar traditional dance with the help of Myanmar traditional orchestra called “Sine Wine”. When women team and men team compete in the tug-of-war competition, the rest group of men and the group of women sing antiphonal chant, “Than Chat”, satirically with each other. Monks also take their responsibil-ity for the rain-calling festival by recit-ing “Nga Yant Min” sutta. After holding the festival with residents and monks, raining mostly starts. The residents can wear smiles on their lips as their wish is fulfilled by raindrops.
In these days, most of the places of Myanmar are suffering from the hot-ness. All of the people are wishing to feel the coolness of the raindrops. Therefore, the rain-calling festival is being hosted in some places by the residents. As I live in Mandalay, I can see most of the quarters of Mandalay are hosting the rain-calling festival. So, wherever I see the people who are trying to see raindrops, I wish we all could free from hotness and feel the coolness of the raindrops.
By Khin Moh Moh Aung
Yadanabon University
