Shorthly before Christmas, Karen new year festival took place. As we mentioned
in a previous post, there are many new years, as many as there are ethnic peoples.
The dates vary and they are usually based on the lunar calendar. Here in Thailand
were 3 weeks away from Songkran, the theravada boudhist new year, celebrated
in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. But i'm getting carried away...!
To celebrate Karen New year, dance groups rehearse and perform the
Dawn Dance. The "Dawn Dance" (nothing to do with dawn, it means New Year)
are performed by boys and grils, men and women. Actually the dancers sing and
dance at the same time, while drummers play. One must be pretty fit to finish a
complete song because the dances are fairly energetic. The songs are happy and
very catching, the dancers dress up in traditional clothing, proud to continue their
cultural heritage.
On the day, people gathered from all around the camp. Some people have to walk for an
hours to reach the festival grounds. The drum and the buffalo horns you can see on the gate are the emblems of Karen people, the sunrising is part of the Karen flag.
It means a lot for Sunrise school students to perform for the New Year festival because they can be shuned by other schools for learning in a schools that uses Burmese as the teaching language. By performing the Dawn dance, they show their love of Karen culture and assert thier identity as Karen youth.
Yaung Nii Oo student did a wonderful performance that night, demonstrating that the new generations will continue to care fro Karen traditions and arts.
New Year In MLO camp
New Year In MLO camp
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