Red-silk cotton trees (Salmalia malabrica) and Myanmar’s folk culture are inseparable, as the dried flowers of the red-silk cotton trees are cooked with beef, which has been the traditional cuisine of Myanmar since the time of kings.
The poem, entitled “The time to collect Latpan flowers (red-silk cotton flowers)”, dating from the time of the kingdom, is also taught to school children.
The Latpan trees, mostly grown in central Myanmar, blossom with red flowers every February and March.
U Tint Hlaing, a man from Shawpyukan Village in Meihtila Township in central Myanmar, is one of the elderly people who remember their younger days when they saw beautiful flowers on the Latpan trees in the early summer.
“In our younger days, the curry of dried Latpan flowers cooked with beef was served to all of our family members,” recalled the 72-year-old man.
“I had the most hearty appetite at the dining table,” said U Tint Hlaing.
When he was a boy, there were many villagers collecting fallen Latpan flowers under the red-sick cotton trees outside their village. Some villagers woke early to collect flowers which fell at night.
But, he is seeing that today’s generation is not interested in this ancient culture of collecting Latpan flowers and cooking it for a curry.
“This culture is not popular today among the people. When I want to enjoy this cuisine, I ask my children and grandchildren to cook for me,” said the old man. The cuisine of dried Latpan flowers and beef cooked by his parents remains in the memories of the 72-year-old man.
“I’ have concerns that this culture would become extinct,” he said.
In rural areas, folk people also believe that the dried flowers of Latpan has a healing power for women’s health matters.
Daw Ngwe Ohn, a 74-year-old woman from Makyisu Village, is still in love with the traditional cuisine of dried flowers of the Red-Silk Cotton trees.
“Now that I am old, I still love the cuisine of Latpan flowers without beef,” said Daw Ngwe Ohn.
The difference from her younger days is that the number of villagers who collect the flowers under the trees in the summer has dwindled, year by year.
However, the trees with blossoms of red flowers are still beautifying the rural areas of My - anmar every summer.
Translated by Nat Ye Hla
