It’s a scene out of the distant past—two columns of dancers loop, coil and weave a sinuous route around a ceremonial arch spanning a circular arena enclosed by a split bamboo fence. The arch is topped by a line of 10 tall boards colorfully decorated with linked linear maze patterns. A crossbeam, decorated with depictions of various birds and other animals, carries the carved head of a hornbill bird at one end and its tail at the other. The structure is called a manau—and that’s also the name of the ritual dance ceremony, performed by the Kachin people of Burma.

 

 

In early December it was also being performed in the northern Thai village of Baan Mai Samaki, home to some 500 Kachin refugees who work on land managed by the Thai King’s Highland Development Project. This is the second manau to be celebrated at Baan Mai Samaki—the first was in 2003—and it was expected to draw Kachin exiles from as far away as China and India.

 

The manau festival is traditionally held to mark various important community events—weddings, funerals, declarations of war and victory celebrations. The Baan Mai Samaki fiesta was organized for no other reason than to keep an ancient tradition alive and to call the Kachin diaspora together—rather like a Welsh eisteddfod or a Scottish highland gathering.

 

From their folklore, language and culture, it is clear the Kachin originated in Tibet. By the time the British in 19th century colonial Burma first became aware of them, in the far north of that newly conquered territory, the Kachin had expanded southwards into the highlands of what is today known as Kachin State. Hardy warriors of highland stock, at first they resolutely resisted the attempted British take-over of their remote mountain territory, bordered by India to the west, Tibet to the north, China to the east, with Shan State and the rest of Burma to the south.

 

These forest-clad mountains, deeply fissured by river valleys, have rich mineral resources, including alluvial gold, rubies and sapphire, and the jadeite (imperial green jade) historically revered as “the stone of heaven” in China.

 

During the 90 years of the British Raj, the Kachin began to adapt to their changing circumstances. Their society did not disintegrate under the impact of the new political dispensa?tion, and the arrival of powerful forces from distant regions fermented growth. American Baptist missionaries brought medicine, education, and above all literacy. A gifted linguist, the Swedish-American Ola Hanson, still revered by the Kachin, devised a writing system modeled on the Western alphabet in order to print a Kachin translation of the Bible.

 

Over time, prompted by their martial traditions, young Kachin began to volunteer to serve in newly organized army and police units recruited by the British. This vocation continued through World War II, when both the Americans and the British raised Kachin units to oppose the Japanese. They fought a highly successful guerrilla campaign against over-extended Japanese supply lines, making a vital contribution, along with the Chindits, to the destruction of the Japanese advance into India. Their contribution earned them the accolade “the Gurkhas of Southeast Asia.” In fact, just as the Gurkhas’ kukri forms part of their traditional ceremonial uniform, so the Kachin shortsword, or dah, is still carried upright by the male Kachin as part of their ritual costume as they dance the manau.

 

The myth accounting for the origin of the manau describes how the sun god summoned to his court the earthly community of birds, led by the hornbill—a “king black bird” (probably a raven)—and ordered them to dance for his entertainment. In later times, the birds are then said to have taught the Kachin the same dances.

 

Black and white hornbill feathers adorn the elaborate headdresses of the lead dancers, while their costumes also feature images of various birds, including the peacock. The elaborate ceremonial is an art form that expresses the quintessence of the pride the Kachin have in their history and culture.