Introduction
Myanmar, formally the Union of Myanmar in Burmese, is the biggest country in geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. Likewise known as Burma or the Union of Burma by bodies and countries which one do not recognise the ruling military junta, it is bordered by the People’s Republic of China on the north, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, and India upon the northwest, with the Andaman Sea to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest. One-third of Myanmar’s total perimeter, 1,930 km (1,199 mi), forms an uninterrupted coastline.
Myanmar’s diverse population has played a major role in specifying its politics, its history, & its demographics in modern times. The country’s culture, heavily influenced by regional neighbors, is depending upon a unique form of Buddhism intertwined using local elements. Though a diverse range of indigenous cultures live in Myanmar, the dominant culture is mainly Buddhist and Bamar. Bamar culture has been shaped by the cultures of neighboring countries. This is manifested in its language, culinary art, music, dance and theatre. The arts, particularly literature, have historically been acted upon by the Burmese form of Theravada Buddhism.
Considered the national epic of Myanmar, the Yama Zatdaw, an adaptation of Ramayana, has been determined greatly by Thai, Mon, and Indian versions of the play.Buddhism is practiced by by using nat worship which one involves elaborate rituals to appease one from a pantheon of 37 nats.
In a traditional Burmese village, the monastery is the centre of cultural living. Monks are revered and backed up by the lay people. A novitiation ceremony called shinbyu is the to the highest degree important coming of age cases for a boy when he enters the monastery for a short period of time. Girls have ear-piercing ceremonies at the same time. Burmese culture is almost evident in villages in which local festivals are took hold throughout the year, the virtually all important being the pagoda festival.Many villages have a defender nat, and superstition and taboos are commonplace in Burmese living.
Members of the Buddhist monkhood are revered throughout Myanmar, which one is one of the most preponderantly Theravada Buddhist countries in the world.
Members of the Buddhist monkhood are revered throughout Myanmar, which one is one of the to the highest degree predominantly Theravada Buddhist countries in the world.
The Burmese script is likewise used to write several ethnic minority languages, including Shan, several Karen dialects, and Kayah (Karenni), by having the addition of specialised characters and diacritics for each language. The Burmese language integrates widespread usage of honorifics and is age-oriented. Burmese society has traditionally stressed the meaning of education. In villages, secular schooling often will require place in monasteries. Secondary and tertiary education take place at government schools.
Burmese culinary art has been shaped by Indian, Chinese, Thai, and other ethnic cuisines.The staple of Burmese culinary art is rice. Noodles and breads are as well eaten. Burmese culinary art often utilises shrimp, and fish, fermented fish paste, pork and mutton. Beef, which one is believed taboo meat, is rarely eaten. Curries, such as masala and chilli are likewise used. Mohinga, widely considered Myanmar’s home dish, consists of curried catfish broth with chickpea flower, rice vermicelli and fish sauce. Tropical fruits are frequently functioned as desserts. Major cities offer a wider kind of cuisines, including Shan, Chinese, and Indian.
Traditional Burmese music is melodious but without harmony. Musical instruments let in a drum circle called pat waing, a gong circle called kyi waing, a bamboo xylophone named pattala, cymbals, wind instruments such as as the hne or oboe and flute, bamboo clappers, and string tools, which are typically assembled in an orchestra named saing waing. The saung gauk, a boat-shaped string instrument consisting of silk strings and mica glass decorated along its neck has long been related with the Burmese culture.
As the 1950s, westernised music has gained popularity, especially in large cities.
All of Myanmar of hart are fully with Buddhism whenever they met trouble.
Therefore I can memorized in my life.


Thank






















Buddhist Monks Novices and Nuns



The Mon were the first people in Myanmar to practice Theravada Buddhism, called the Southern school since it took the southern route from India, its place of origin. King Asoka, the great Indian emperor and devout Buddhist convert, is known to have sent missions during the 3rd century BC to Suvannabhumi, the Golden Land - an area taken to be the fertile river deltas of what are today Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. A second wave is thought to have arrived in Southeast Asia via Singhalese missionaries from present-day Sri Lanka, sometime between the 6th and 10th centuries. By the 9th century the Pyu of northern Myanmar were combining Theravada with elements of Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism brought with them from their homelands on or near the Tibetan Plateau. When the Bamar of Bagan supplanted the Pyu they inherited this amalgamated form.
During the early Bagan era <11th>, Bamar king Anawrahta decided that the Buddhism practiced in his realm should be "purified" of all non-Theravada elements, a task he set for Mon monks captured by his armies in Thaton, southern Myanmar. Although Burmese Buddhism was never totally rid of Mahayana, Tantric, Hidu and animist elements, his efforts were remarkably successful in bringing the Burmese around to predominantly Theravada world-view.
Myanmar Religion and Beliefs
Shinpyu (or) Novicehood (A fulfilment of parenthood)
Pre-novitiation instructions The monastery was surrounded by shady trees and its spacious grounds were well kept; the building were old and solid yet unpretentious. It was eight in the morning and we saw the monks coming back from their daily alms-round.
Aunty told us that the monks staying there had to go on alms-receiving rounds every morning in the same old-fashioned way I had known in my childhood. The alms-round, I understood, was done more in the spirit of humility and compassion for the people the necessity. The people were being giving thereby a chance to do deeds of merit by giving a morsel out of their daily food to the monks. The presiding monk received us kindly and we told him we wanted our son to be given pre-novitiation instructions.

Khin Maung Win was put under the care of a monk who gave him some Pali and Myanmar passages to learn. Since my youngest brother and Aunty 's son were going to be novices, all three were to go to the monastery every morning. My younger brother and Aunty 's son both of whom were about fifteen has already been novitiated. It was not unusual for a male child to become a novice more than once but there is yet another great occasion for a son... the upa-sampada... ordination at the age of twenty. It is considered a great privilege to have a son.
First novitiation 2,500 years ago
In the weeks that followed we talked of nothing else. We had to make our son, now nine years old, realise the importance of being a novice. I told him the story of the young princeling Rahula, Buddha's own son. I never realised its beauty until I presented the story to my nine-year-old-son. We showed him young novices who followed older monks as they went on their morning rounds. We pointed out the young boys in the yellow robes with black bowls cradled in their arms after the fashion of the older monks. Their eyes were downcast, their faces begin.

Some two thousand five hundred years ago Rahula, the seven-year-old novice had followed in the footsteps of the Buddha, his father. For seven years the young prince had waited for the Father who had left him when he was a baby in his mother's amis. He had listened to his mother Yasodhaya's story of how one sad night his father prince Siddhartha had left the palace on horse-back attended only by his faithful groom.

Where had his father gone? Why had he gone? These, the little boy wanted to know. Yasodhaya told him how the faithful groom had come back with the news that the Prince had gone into the forest after changing his princely attire for a yellow robe. Why had he done this? He had gone into retirement to seek the way out of pain, suffering and death: when he had found it he would come back and teach men the Truth he had found. After seven years, he came back with his head shorn, robed in coarse yellow cloth, with the black bowl cradled in his arms. He walked, with downcast eyes, the street he once rode in grandeur attended by foot-soldiers, mounted guards, elephants and chariots. His father King Suddhodana was filled with shame and anger. He chided Him for disgracing the Sakkya warrior race to which he belonged. The Buddha answered that he no longer belonged to the Sakkya race but to the race of the Buddhas before Him and the Buddhas after. A strange meeting it was; a great King, proud and mighty in warrior-mail meeting his son in hermit-raiment. The son had become greater than the mightiest of kings, for he had become the greatest Teacher. One who would teach the way out of sorrow, suffering, pain and death. Happy yet tearful was the meeting of Rahula's mother and the Buddha. The whole palace was agog with the news of the Buddha's acceptance of His father's invitation to come and partake of alms-food at the palace. When the meal was over everybody was there to make obeisance to the Buddha except the ever-adored one Yasodhaya. She was standing fast by her conviction that the once beloved would be moved to come to her not forgetting mutual obligations.

Then she would make her obeisance to her heart's content. The Buddha had prescience that if He did not go to Yasodhaya she would die of grief. Handing his begging bowl to the King father and accompanied by two disciples, He repaired to Yasodhaya's chamber. There He sat Himself down on the seat of honour set ready for Him. Yasodhaya was at His feet in all haste and clasping His two ankles in her two hands she pressed her face on His feet and smothered them in her tears. Thus she made obeisance to the Buddha, her beloved Lord. For some time the Buddha stayed at His father's city teaching His law to the people.

One day Rahula's mother told him to go to his Father and claim his heritage. The young prince went to his Father, the Buddha and said, "Father, give me my heritage." The Buddha put Rahula in the care of His disciple, Sariputra. Rahula was given the Yellow Robe. This was his glorious heritage.
The Buddha's heritage
Now our nine-year-old son was going to receive the heritage the Buddha had given to his own son two thousand five hundred years ago. Our son was to be the Buddh a's own kin; we were giving him up into the holy order of the Yellow Robe. It is then that a Buddhist marriage, which in itself has no place in religion, finds its highest fulfilment as the means of rendering onto the Order the flesh of one's flesh, the bone of one's bone. We were up in the clouds during the days of planning and shopping. Yellow robes and all the paraphernalia of novices were got ready. On the appointed day, we left home for the monastery, Ko Latt carrying the yellow robes, Daw Daw and the girls carrying gifts for the monks. Khin Maung Win was dressed in silk longyi and long sleeved shirt. Since we were cutting down on the show, we had no princely dresses; no horseback ride and gilded umbrella for him.
Almsgiving; novitiation ceremony
We gave the hundred and fifteen monks in the monastery their morning meal. It was an unforgetable sight; the yellow-robed monks partaking of the morning meal. After the morning duties were done, the boy and his two companions had their heads shaved. Ko Latt and I held a snow-white sheet to receive his hair which we buried near a pagoda. Then the boys were led to the monk who was to be their teacher. Each with a roll of yellow robe cupped in both hands, they begged permission in Pali to be novitiated.

The monk invested them with the robes. We picked up our son's wordly attire and there he stood looking pure and serene in yellow robes, yet so young and so tender. My eyes were filled with tears of joy. How could our love, Ko Latt's and mine, bring forth something so sublime? We prostrated ourselves at his feet and paid obeisance to him, who was no longer our son but the Son of the Buddha.
The boy's stay at the monastery
The boy stayed in the monastery for nine days during which he had to keep the ten precepts, one of which was to abstain from solid food after the hour of noon. Naturally we were worried about whether the boy could do without his evening meal. He was given lime juice in the evening and he took to his new way of life quite easily. In a place where no one ate in the afternoon it was easy to adapt himself. Going without the evening meal eliminates all the work and fuss and leaves more time for study and meditation. Young people keep fit and strong enough as a result of this act of self-denial.
A young novice's alms round
Every morning our son came with the older novices, each carrying his black bowl. We put rice and curry and delicacies into the bowl. Since the novitiation, our son had become another person altogether. Apart from respecting his shorn head, the yellow robe and a new pali name, we had to speak to him in honorific terms. We no longer called him by his layman's name and he addressed us "Lay-sister" or "Lay-brother". We were no longer his parents, just lay-people, for he had become a Son of the Buddha. All this brought us a strange feeling of ecstasy. Our son's novitiation brought back the sense of wonder I had known in my younger days. The monastery where he stay was a somewhat like the ones I had seen when I was a child. The monks were staid and quiet andspent their days in meditation and the study of the Buddhist scriptures.



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Myanmar Religion and Beliefs
Novitiation Ceremony
Today, we will present one of the noblest ceremonies for Buddhists in Myanmar called ceremony of ordination and novitiation. This ceremony is especially held in Waso month, the fourth month in Myanmar calendar which coincide during July and August.In Buddhism to become a novice, the novice to be has to overcome three steps which are shaving the hair, wearing the robe and believing Buddha, Dhamma; Teaching of Buddha and Saga “ Monk” as the reliable source to take refuge.

Among them, although shaving the hair and wearing the robe seem to be easy, it is difficult to believe firmly in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha what we call three venerables. As it is difficult to pronounce perfectly the novice to be has to learn at least one month ahead how to ask for the robe from the presiding monk and how to pronounce properly the three venerables and how to say beats and so on in Pali language.

Buddhists in Myanmar believed that if their sons have been initiated into novice-hood at least on in his life, the parents will not suffer in hell in next existence and they regard the son who is in novice-hood like men who are in more noble life and pay respect while they are in novice-hood. Nowadays in Myanmar, as the ceremonies of ordination and novitiation are held especially in summer vocation between March and May, you can watch Myanmar Buddhist’s traditional style of novitiation procession throughout the country.

Shinbyu (; ) is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism.It is deemed the most important duty that parents owe to their son by letting him go forth and embrace the legacy of the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher in the ancient Indian subcontinent and the historical founder of Buddhism...., join the Sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Indian languages that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly".... and become immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma, at least for a short while, perhaps longer if not for the rest of his life. A boy may become a novice on more than one occasion but by the age of twenty there will be another great occasion, the upasampada
Upasampada
Upasampada, in Buddhism, is a rite whereby one becomes a monk. Theravada Buddhism preserves the ritual more or less as it has been practiced for centuries....ordination. Those who are not blessed with a male child will seek for an orphan boy or a boy from very poor families in order to receive this special dispensation by the Buddha and hence gain great merit by the act. Shinbyu may well be regarded as a rite of passage
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status or sexual status.... or coming of age
Coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's formal transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes places varies in society, as does the nature of the transition.... ceremony as in other religions. Spending some time however short it may be, in a Buddhist Vihara (Monastery) in his youthful days is regarded by most Buddhists as the best religious inheritance to children by the parents and it will have a lasting effect on his life.
History
The first shinbyu in history probably took place in the Buddha's lifetime two and a half millennia ago. It was his own son Rahula
Rahula
Rahula was the only son of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. This Pali and Sanskrit name translates roughly as "chain" or "chained one," an interesting philosophical contrast to Buddha, "the awakened one." It can also be translated as obstacle... who approached the prodigal father, at his mother Yasodhara's bidding, to ask for his inheritance. "Very well", said the Buddha, "here then is my legacy for you", beckoning one of his disciples to shave the head of the young prince and adorn him with the robe of an ascetic in exchange for his princely dress, and Rahula was then bidden to follow the Buddha to his forest monastery.
Prelude
The abbot (Sayadaw, lit. royal teacher) of the village monastery will choose an auspicious day for the novitiation; the New Year festival period, Thingyan
Thingyan is also used to novitiation ceremony
Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Festival and usually falls around mid-April. It is celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new year.... or a-hka dwin, is a favourite time of the year and there may be boys from an extended family or families from the same neighbourhood or village being prepared for it. This usually includes learning the thingan doung (request for robes) and seba thila (the Ten Precepts) - they are already familiar with the basic Five Precepts (ngaba thila) - as well as some monastic rules. Parents will chide them if they are caught climbing trees or swimming in the river for fear of accidents or catching a bad cold in the run-up to this great event. Their sisters and older members of the family will call at every house in the village with a lacquerware
Lacquerware and other at novitiation ceremony must be have for the guest.
Lacquerware is objects which are decoratively covered with lacquer which is sometimes inlaid or carved.... dish of lahpet
Lahpet
Lahpet, also spelt laphet, is Burmese language for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is one of very few countries where tea is eaten as well as drunk....(pickled tea) and invite entire households to the shinbyu or a-hlu (alms/donation). And acceptance is indicated by the partaking of the lahpet. Printed invitations however are more common in towns and cities today.
Ceremony
Festivities start on the eve of shinbyu called a-hlu win with a pwè (an orchestra and dance/drama/comedy ensemble) and tea for the guests. In the middle of a street, a pandal or mandat constructed from bamboo and papier mache with ornately painted gold and silver columns, pediments and finials has sprung up overnight. Sweets such as jaggery
Jaggery
Jaggery is the traditional unrefined sugar used in India. The traditional name for jaggery is "Bellam" in South India and "gur" in the North India.... (palm sugar)
Palm sugar
Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as coconut sugar.... lumps, hta nyet) or cane sugar bars (kyan thaga) and a-hlu lahpet
Lahpet
Lahpet, also spelt laphet, is Burmese language for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is one of very few countries where tea is eaten as well as drunk....(pickled tea laced with sesame oil encircled by small heaps of fried peas, peanuts and garlic, toasted sesame, crushed dried shrimps and shredded preserved ginger) are served with green tea (yei nway jan or lahpet yei jan). In towns and cities, assorted cakes, ice cream and coffee have superseded the traditional sweets but lahpet
Lahpet
Lahpet, also spelt laphet, is Burmese language for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is one of very few countries where tea is eaten as well as drunk....still holds centre stage.
The big day starts early with a procession (shinlaung hlè pwe) to the monastery, the young boy dressed in resplendent silks embroidered with gold as a royal prince or king, shielded from the sun by a gold umbrella and led on horseback by an orchestral band headed by a clown with a moustache called U Shwe Yoe holding a parasol and dancing merrily. This ritual symbolises Prince Siddhartha Gautama's departure from the royal palace with its sensuous pleasures and luxuries at the age of twenty nine, leaving his wife and newborn son in search of the Four Noble Truths .
New Novice
Even the mightiest of Buddhist kings in history would kneel before a young novice for he wore the Buddha's mantle. So the parents pay obeisance (shihko) to their young son, now held on a higher echelon, as well as to the venerable monks. No physical display of affection can now be considered appropriate until he leaves the monastery. He gains a new name, say Shin Ponnya if Thursday-born or Shin Tayza for a Saturday-born.A special form of language for monks will be used by the layfolk when they talk to him. He will be addressed as ko yin by everyone including his parents and they in turn addressed by him as daga jee and daga ma jee. Back in the village, celebrations can resume with the promise of a good pwè for the evening, another free show for the entire neighbourhood or village called aung bwè (a show to celebrate success).





Celebrating a novitiation ceremony Nyuangshwe, Myanmar


Many children and teenagers participate in novitiation ceremonies at the end of March to celebrate their entrance into a monastery for a year or two. In Nyuangshwe it was a multi-day celebration with parades through town, on the canal and at people's houses.



Novitiation ceremony celebration




Traditional Religion


The majority of Bamar are Buddhists of the Theravada tradition. People are expected to keep the basic five precepts and practise dana (charity), sila (morality), and bavana (meditation). Most villages have a monastery and often a pagoda maintained and supported by the layfolk. Annual pagoda festivals usually fall on a full moon day, and robe offering ceremonies for monks are held both at the beginning and after the Buddhist lent which coincides with the monsoons , and during which uposatha (sabbath) is generally observed once a week. Children used to be educated by monks before secular state schools came into being. A shinbyu ceremony by which young boys become novice monks for a short period is the most important duty of Buddhist parents. Christian missionaries had made little impact on the Bamar despite the popularity of missionary schools in cities.



















myanmar culture & tradition
Novitiation Ceremony
Novitiation ceremony is the unique characteristic in Myanmar. This ceremony usually celebrates during the school holidays, mostly in summer holidays at March & April before the water festival. In the Myanmar tradition the boys are compulsory to enter the Buddhist order for a week or more.In the Myanmar Buddhist tradition it is compulsory that every boys over eight years old to twenty have to enter the Buddhist Order for a week or more as a novice and over twenty they have to enter the Order again as Ordained Monk. At least twice in his life he becomes a member of the Order and sometimes even more. They stay at a monastery is not considered a hardship because it is a blessing for the whole family as well as for the boys themselves. Monks or novices can stay as long as they wish. A formal Novitiation ceremony involves a parade around the pagodas on the first day with the boys all dressed up as princes. In the afternoon their heads will be shaven and they will enter the Order. On the same day or the next there will be a feast for monks and invited guests. If sisters of the Novices have their ears pierced at the same time, they also are the important participants in the celebrations.At the ceremony the line of a dozen cars drive orderly with musical troop follow an a roofless truck car playing music and songs loudly for dancer who take place on the roof top with funny dance to amuse people. To pay homage to the Buddha they go to a famous pagoda at their town, parade clockwise to the pagoda, the parents take place at the front, the fathers carry the Alms bowl and fan and the mothers carry the casket contain robes. Next to them are Monks-to-be and Novices-to-be with their attended holding Gold umbrella over them and a group of girls carry decorated offertories follow them in line. Musical troop and their merry making dancer make all the funs and tease the girls. After the pagoda they have to visit a nat (sprit) shrine for homage. Then finally go to the monastery shave the hair and ask permission from the Abbot to be novice. As a novice he has to observe eight precepts and learn the Buddha teachings from his preceptor. Novitiation is the obligation for every parent, rich or poor, since it is believe to be a great meritorious deed which could prevent them to be at the evil realm.



















Reference
1.Novitation Ceremory Ashin Satila
2.Tradition of Myanmar U Tin Bo
3. U KULAR GYI biography U Kular Gyi
4. Colorful of Myanmar Daw Khin Myo Chit









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