A good day out

 Bo Reh gives me a pink and black booklet, ‘The Loyal Karens of Burma’ from the Historical Collection of the British library. Published in 1887, this was written two years after the British annexed Burma. There's nothing like getting the latest perspective! The British signed a treaty allowing the Karen states independence, probably due to the fact that they were less economically productive and so not worth subduing rather than from noble intentions. The comments on the Burmese and Karen character  reflect colonial attitudes of the time, with the title of the book suggesting where the writer’s sympathy lay. Sample: ‘The ordinary Burman is cringing to his superiors and overbearing to his inferiors. The Karen loathes this.’ And ‘ Treat a Karen firmly and kindly, and he behaves like a real gentleman’. I doubt the writer ever reflected on the fact that a subjugated people might have behaved in a more servile manner than those who did not have to rely on an oppressor for their living. The British and the Karen traded in teak to mutual advantage and seemingly, from this pamphlet, to a patronising respect by the Brits.

A sentence jumps out. ‘In 1868, the Karen-nees (Red Karen) were fighting for their very existence with the Burmese invaders. Strong united action was necessary to repel the invaders.’ So even before the British Empire swallowed up Burma, the Burmese and Karennis were at war. History has continued to repeat itself on and off for, at the very least,  hundred and fifty odd years.

To clarify, the Karen are separate from the Karenni, a distinction our colonial forebears  did not bother with, not being too subtle, as we know, in their dealings with the natives. Nee means ‘red’ in Burmese so the Karen-nees, now Karenni, were thus named by the British for their red clothes. The Karen live to the South East of Myanmar with their own languages and cultures whereas the Karenni are found in the East of Myanmar, inhabiting the state of Kayah in Myanmar and within the North West border region with Thailand. The Karenni are politically united in seeking independence and fighting the Burmese, whereas the Karen are more inclined politically to accept a federal democracy. Neither of these hopes are currently realistic with Min Aung Hlaing, the current military leader of Myanmar having just  declared a further 6 months state of emergency, thereby postponing elections yet again. The Karenni are not  a single entity, but a collection of eight distinctive hill peoples sharing many traits, yet speaking their own languages, with the most well known, from a touristic point of view, being the long necked people.

Four of my Karenni students wearing part traditional red dress -a Friday custom

 

So to Saturday.

Saturday morning about 10 a.m as I am wondering how to spend the day, Bo Reh, the young work skills teacher, asks me if I want to come to a wedding. The diary being very empty, I don’t have to think too hard about it, noting that this last minute attitude would give most UK wedding organisers apoplexy. He races off on his motorbike and I join three others who are going as well and I wonder where Bo Reh has gone. He reappears quickly from the shop, which is all of 20 metres away, with some airmail envelopes which he distributes for us to give cash presents. I oblige as, though not expected, I feel I should offer something to compensate for the attendance of an unknown foreigner. The wedding is held at the large Baptist church, about 50 metres up the hill. (More history: Baptist missionaries turned up in Burma in the 19th C, the most famous being Adoniram Judson. His story is worth a read. They were pretty successful eventually after a slow start at conversion with a significant number currently among the Karenni.)  I needn’t have worried about gatecrashing as the question was, 'Who wasn’t invited?' We conveniently arrived as the ceremony finished, placed our envelopes in a bowl and then I took photos of my friends with the wedding party before eating a meal of curry and rice being served in relays. The poor bride and groom had to pose while everyone of the 300 or so guests came in small groups to shake hands before having their photo taken. It turns out the groom is the Bible teacher there, having trained in Nagaland in India, before returning to teach and marry one of his students. I hope they have not since been thinking 'That was a lovely day but who on earth was that strange foreign woman?'

Random wedding invitation-Bo Reh centre back

 Oo Mya asks if I want to come to the Kayan village nearby where long necked people live. I am pleased to accept as I did want to visit but worried about being yet another gawping tourist. About half a kilometre along the dusty track deeper into the forest we come to the gates of the IDP (Internally Displaced People) area, effectively a border area, on this side of Thailand from Myanmar and a type of no man’s land where refugees from Myanmar are permitted to live. The camp is another 30 minutes through the barriers, manned by Thai guards, by motorbike. 

Entrance to IDP area

We turn to the left and soon arrive at a small village with a few stalls along the road, displaying scarves and cloths woven by the women, postcards and artefacts like wood carvings of long necked people for the tourist trade. Everything feels slightly half-hearted with no-one tending the stalls and I wonder if Covid has drastically reduced their trade.  The occasional long necked woman sitting on the ground outside her wooden home, continues weaving, seemingly unconcerned with us. We visit Oo Mya's friend, an ex student from the centre, who is stringing teak leaves-more of later. A local teacher invites us to come to her house to ‘dress up’ - a tourist side line run by the family. Forget the sightseeing, a major attraction for me is that the room is very cool. 

 Traditionally the Kayan long necked woman starts to wear some rings very young at about five, with rings added as she ages. The neck is not extended, rather the clavicle is depressed, giving her the appearance of an elongated neck and surprisingly the neck is not weakened if the rings are ever removed. Some young people wear neck rings that are taken on and off, as for the dressing up, but traditionally they are worn all the time, even at night . Upon lifting the bronze rings, I am surprised at the weight-these are solid and  very heavy. 

Brass neck rings

Real long necked people-honest guv

The teacher decides that Oo Mya and Bo Reh will be good adverts for the village so we set off on a photo shoot with Oo Mya and Bo Reh posing like professional models, but after about 30 minutes I have to retire to the shade of the house and lie prostrate on the mat. I reflect. Somehow the idea of Karenni people posing as long necked people has a pleasing ring (no pun intended). Tourists could get their photos/postcards and the real long necked people don’t have to be tourist spectacles.

A mystery is also solved here, having been puzzled by locals carrying large baskets of huge leaves on their backs. It turns out that these are teak leaves that are then skewered onto thin pieces of bamboo to serve as roof coverings. Apparently the leaves are very waterproof. Such an environmentally positive means of roofing, if not transferable to the UK!

Oo Mya's friend stringing teak leaves
 and teak leaf roof

We go home, laden with bananas. Bo Reh and Oo Mya are terribly happy and sing duets all afternoon. Blossoming romance? Watch this space. All in all, a good day out.