The Nats
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
"...The majority of people in Nabule are Buddhist and celebrate nat festivals but they do not keep nat statues to worship at their home.
?We do believe and worship the village?s nat but now seeing Thai spirit houses in the area, it is like a guest is taking forced residence in our house. We do not want spirit houses in a religious Buddhist area like this. There is a possibility for cultural mixing and I am concerned about our culture being threatened by another culture?, said U Aung Ba, member of the Nabule Spiritual Group.
Nabule famous for it?s ancient religious sites has more than 2000 households and around 10,000 Buddhists. Local people are [majority] Tavoyan and Tavoyan is the main language spoken in the area.
In Thailand, it is common to see spirit houses at people?s residences, corporate buildings and mega shopping malls in the city. It is believed that worshiping and making offerings to spirits can bring luck to one?s occupation and business."
Violet Cho
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2013-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-16
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
The Nats
Language:
English
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Individual Documents
Description:
"Buddhist Bamah living on the plains of the the Ayeyawadi River?s middle reaches
formed what can be called the ?Burmasphere” through cultural exchanges with other ethnic
or religious groups in the surrounding area. In the Burmasphere, people adhere to the
absolute superiority of Theravada Buddhism and conduct a variety of religious practices
such as spirit worship, Brahmanism, and witchcraft.
This paper considers the relationship between gender and religious practices, focusing
on spirit worship in the Burmasphere and cases from rural communities in Upper Burma.
Regarding spirit worship and gender, Brac de la Perrière showed how the feminine
dimensions of spirit mediumship involve not only Burmese gender construction, but also
the Burmese construction of difference and how it is encoded in the hierarchical system
[Brac de la Perrière 2007].
This article will focus on the spirit ritual for the ?Spirits of Tradition” (mizain hpazain
nat or miyohpala nat) held in a village in Upper Burma, which is not necessarily needed a
help of spirit mediums, as Spiro called a ?simple and essentially private ritual”..."
IIKUNI Yukako
Source/publisher:
The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies, No. 32, 2014... 上智アジア学 第32 号2014 年 目次 ...Burma Studies in Japan: History, Culture and Religion
Date of publication:
2014-12-27
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1022.01 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Introduction: "Myanmar
has
had
the
prosperous
religion,
traditional,
and
other
forms
of
culture
in
their
ways
of
life.
Regarding
of
the
religion,
the
long-‐standing
and
extensive
belief
in
holy
and
tutelary
spirits
(Nat)
among
Myanmese
could
be
generally
cited
as
the
Myanmar?s
tradition
prior
the
Theravada.
Then
Buddhism
has
become
to
the
official
faith
since
King
Anawrahta
of
Bagan
dynasty
instituted
Theravada?
a
school
of
Buddhism?
to
be
the
principal
religion
in
11th
century.
Like
Myanmar,
other
societies
in
Southeast-‐Asia
and
all
where
the
ancient
belief
and
religion
is
respected
and
followed
by
those
local
people.
Among
the
several
Myanmar
primitive
cults,
this
article
would
like
to
raise
the
topic
of
the
existence
of
colorful
ritual
which
fully
contains
of
high
respect;
Nat
and
Nat
Kadaw
(spirit
and
spirit
medium).
Actually,
this
traditional
belief
has
been
gradually
illustrated
by
the
scholars
in
different
aspects,
the
classic
one
was
written
by
the
American
anthropologist;
Melford
E.
Spiro
(1967).
Three
decades
later,
the
specifically
ritual
book
about
the
well-‐known
Myanmar
local
festival
was
completed
by
Yves
Rodrigue
(1995)
and
other
views
such
as
the
intensive
of
this
ritual,
spirit
and
spirit
medium
have
been
still
described
by
Bénédicte
Brac
de
la
Perrière
(2009)
and
the
other
authors.
This
attractive
cult,
however,
has
still
remained
interesting
phenomenon
because
the
existence
of
the
local
be
lief
and
rite
has
closely
been
in
Myanmese
ways
of
life
from
Buddhism
belief,
strict
Buddhists
and
non-‐Buddhist
alliances.
In
addition,
some
interesting
aspects
are
that
how
the
Myanmar?s
socio-‐economic
changing
into
the
modern
society
effects
to
their
local
belief
and
spirit
worship,
how
their
social
transition
would
affect
to
the
people
appealing,
and
how
the
Nat
Kadaws
play
their
roles
and
have
relations
under
this context.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015.
Patchareepan Ravangban
Source/publisher:
International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015
Date of publication:
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats, Religion in Burma - general, Anthropological literature on religion and magic, International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) 23-26 July, 2015
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
184.13 KB
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Description:
Article describing diverse images of the Pounmakyi Nat. Villagers believe in and and pray to her for successful crops,
and and some imagine the Nat to be the Pubba star.....Subject Terms: 1. Pounmakyi Nat...
2. Pubba Star
Mya, U
Source/publisher:
"Journal of Burma Research Society", Vol. 32, Part 1, pp10-31, 1931?, via University of Washington
Date of publication:
1931-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2014-11-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Washington University, The Nats
Language:
Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ (Metadata: English and Burmese)
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.52 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
Transmission processes in the Burmese cult known as the cult of the Thirty-
Seven Lords are examined here through the analysis of three succession cases
among the ritual specialists of this cult. I seek to understand how transmission
works in a cult whose main ritual manifestation is spirit possession that
involves the logic of inspiration and vocation, rather than the logic of reproduction
and succession. A careful examination of contrasted cases reveals that
succession among spirit mediums, rather than obeying fixed rules, actually
involves the differentiated transmission of assets made of ritual property,
functions, positions, and knowledge. Various combinations -- of spirit possession
and affiliation or fictive kinship, of inspiration and tradition -- appear to
operate at different levels of the cult, with inversions of values sustaining both
its dynamics and its reproduction.
keywords: spirit possession--ritual specialists--transmission--succession--tradition
Benedicte Brac de la Perriere
Source/publisher:
"Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009 via The Free Library
Date of publication:
2009-09-22
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats
Language:
English
more
Description:
This article illustrates the relationship between religion and political power
in a particular process of contemporary Burmese nation building. I highlight
the symbolic appropriation of a specific national territory through the mediation
of a spirit, and the recent building of a sanctuary in Arakan state by
the wife of a Burmese military officer posted in the region, an action that is
akin to concluding an agreement with a local spirit and then establishing the
foundation of central authority over a local population. It highlights a process
whereby the use of religion by the Burmese in the configuration of territory
is observed as a way of maintaining or legitimizing hegemony over the country?s
marginal population groups. The article also shows how this process is
made possible thanks to a specific segment of the local Arakanese elite, perceived
to be the referring authority...
keywords: Arakan state--spirit cults--nation building--territory--
locality--authority and power--tradition
Alexandra de Mersan
Source/publisher:
Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture: "Asian Ethnology" Volume 68, Number 2, 2009
Date of publication:
2009-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats
Language:
English
more
Description:
"A village celebrates its invisible rulers...
Text By Aung Lwin Oo and photos by Olivier Pin-Fat
Burma?s biggest nat festival takes place every August in the village of Taung Pyone, original home of two of the 37 original names in the nat pantheon.
For five days each year Taung Pyone village becomes a fairground.
Taung Pyone, 14 km north of Mandalay, has about 7,000 nat shrines, nearly 2,000 of them elaborate ones dedicated to the village?s famous sons—the brothers Shwe Phyin Gyi and Shwe Phyin Lay.
They are said to have been executed by the 11th century Pagan ruler King Anawrahta for failing to help in the construction of a chedi to enshrine Buddha relics. The story is kept alive today by the symbolic absence from the ancient chedi of two bricks which the two brothers were instructed to contribute..."
Aung Lwin Oo
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 8
Date of publication:
2004-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2004-11-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats
Language:
English
more
Description:
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..."
Yeni
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 8
Date of publication:
2004-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2004-11-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The cult of the 'Thirty-Seven Lords', known in Burma as the thirty-seven 'naq' is
commonly viewed as being a remnant of practices prevalent before Buddhicization, that is
to say, as superstitions having their origins in the obscure period predating the
establishment of Burmese civilization. This article will argue against this assumption and
will assert that this cult cannot be properly understood if it is not considered as a part of
the Burmese religious system still evolving with Buddhist society. The socio-religious
structure of the 'naq' cult shows that it is neither a pre-Buddhist remnant, nor is it
borrowed from India. Close analysis of the actual cult, of its legends of foundation, and of
the historical evidence, clearly shows that it is a construct of Burmese Buddhist kings or,
in other words, a produce of the localization of Buddhism in Burma..."
Benedicte Brac de la Perriere
Source/publisher:
Newsletter, Issue 25, International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden)
Date of publication:
2001-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The Nats, Social and Cultural History, Burman
Language:
English
more
Description:
directed by Lindsey Merrison – Burma, 86 minutes.
56 minute version also available.
video sale $225 rental $65
?Buddhism and nat worship are like mangoes and bananas?
"...Whether contending with a deceitful daughter-in-law, forecasting financial prospects for a tea
shop, or freeing a husband from government detainment, Friends in High Places reveals the
central role of nats and spirit mediums in alleviating the day to day burdens of modern
Burmese life..".
Lindsey Merrison
Date of publication:
2001-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more