Recently Myanmar is said as a crude gemstone beginning to shine after a long time it fell into oblivion. This ancient country has numerous fantastic religious constructions and architectures, and the nature has kept its pristine, rustic appearance.
Ambling around pagodas in a tranquil, spiritual atmosphere, shopping in ancient markets, enjoying tea along with cakes and jam, everyday wearing the traditional costume, all is just the traditional lifestyle that Burmese people have maintained in this modern world. The time seems to be backward in this country, slow down and peaceful.
A sacred Buddhism country – the country of pagodas
Buddhism is the national religion of Myanmar, so pagodas appears with high density in every region. Burmese people are really devout, really faithful to Buddha. They often offer efforts, goodwill and money and make merit for pagodas or monasteries. Therefore, every pagoda also have stelae and boards recording dedication of Buddhists in around the world.
In Myanmar, it is easy to encounter monks chanting in hours and families praying to Buddha. To obverse the traditional worshiping ceremonies of the Burmese, travelers can go to visit pagodas. These holy places allow to bring snack and drinks. However, before entering pagodas all have to leave footwear and shocks outside.
Shopping at the one-century-market
As a long-standing market built in 1926, located in central Yangon, Bogyoke Aung San market (or Scott’s market) is renowned for its amazing colonial architecture with inner cobble-stone streets. The market is dominated by antiques, Burmese handicrafts, jewellery, clothing and art galleries. Scott’s market is also extremely famous for goods of gemstones (ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc) and pearls. With the ancient, original architecture, it is one of invaluable heritages in Yangon.
Enjoying tea, cakes and jams
Drinking tea and enjoying cakes, adding some sweet or lightly sour, hot jam is a special feature in Burmese cuisine culture.
Tea shops in Myanmar have specific characteristics from various cultures. Sometimes, it is so simple to realize familiar dishes of South Asia such as curry with normal bread or crunchy fried bread. Many people eat bread with dessert. Cakes are made of copra, coconut milk, rice flour, fruits, etc and added not too much of sugar. Sweet is not used as dessert but become a light meal in every morning and afternoon.
Wearing the traditional costume everyday
To many nations in the world, traditional costumes are commonly just worn in holidays; whereas, Burmese people dress traditional clothes everyday. Longyi, name of their traditional costume, a type of skirt, is often sewn into a cylindrical shape. It is worn around the waist, running to the feet. This costume is really suited with the hot climate in Myanmar.
Longyi worn by males is called “paso” (the modern paso is a sewing, tight pant) while those worn by women are called “hta-mein”. Men wear longyi combined with shirts or Taipon, a traditional jacket. Hta-mein of the women quite resembles traditional dresses of Lao or Thai women.
Burmese people are not fussy about dressing as well as their daily life. The women seldom make up, they just apply “thanaka” paste on face and hand as sunblock. >> Read more: Thanaka: The secret of beauty.
