Ancient nat cult still rules in Burmese households... The wedding announcement in a Burmese newspaper read like any other. But there was one startling discrepancy—the bridegroom was dead. The bride, though, believed she was marrying someone who could support her as well as any living being. Her chosen partner was a nat, an influential member of the spirit world. She became a nat kadaw, or nat spouse. Such ?unions? are quite common in Burma, even though the country is devoutly Buddhist. As in neighboring Thailand, Theravada Buddhism exists happily enough alongside a widespread belief in the existence of a spirit world, and it?s commonly accepted that the Lord Buddha himself went through cycles of being a nat..."