Karen Celebrate Their “Wrist-tying” Festival

By Saw Yan Naing

August 28, 2007—Ethnic Karen communities around the world are celebrating their annual “wrist-tying” festival. The event traditionally coincides with the time of the August full moon, which falls this year on August 30 in Burma, but the precise timing varies globally.

More than four thousand Karen residents of Mae Sot, on Thailand’s border with Burma, held their festivities on Tuesday.

The festival is known as Lah Ku Kee Su. Lah Ku means August and Kee Su describes the act of binding the wrist with white thread in the belief that evil spirits causing illness can be exorcized.

The ritual has no religious significance, but it has come to represent a symbolic reinforcement of Karen identity and interdependence.

“We observe it with the aim of upholding the tradition and also to make the Karen people united and politically alert,” said Mahn Myo Myint, a member of the committee organizing the Mae Sot festival.

The festival was held at two Burmese temples, Taw Ya Kyaung and Mae Tao, and attracted Burmese migrant workers, exiles, refugees, opposition political leaders and some foreign observers.

Young Karen people performed traditional songs and dances. Naw Mary, a Karen schoolgirl, said “This is the first time for me and I’m really enjoying it. I’m very happy to seeing my people celebrating our culture together.”

Other “wrist-tying” festivals were being celebrated by Karen communities in Bangkok, Canada, Australia, Britain and the Netherlands.