The Bamar (Burmese The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese. It is the native language of the Bamar and other related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar. It is spoken by 32 million as a first language, and as a second language by: ဗမာလူမျိုး; MLCTS The Myanma Language Commission Transcription System, also known as the MLC Transcription System , is a transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. It is loosely based on the Pali romanisation system, has some similarities to the ALA-LC Romanization, and was devised by the Myanma Language Commission. This system is used in: ba. ma lu myui:; Burmese pronunciation: [bəmà lùmjó], also called Burman), are the dominant ethnic An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, consisting of a common language, a common culture (often including a shared religion) and a tradition of common ancestry (corresponding to a history of endogamy) group of Burma Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in Indochina . The country is bordered by People's Republic of China on the north-east, Laos on the east, Thailand on the south-east, Bangladesh on the west, India on the north-west and the Bay of Bengal to the south-west with the Andaman Sea defining its southern, constituting approximately 68% (30,000,000) of the population. The Bamar usually have straight black hair, and a relatively light skin tone (although intermixing makes skin tone vary).

The Bamar are frequently called simply Burmese, but this term is ambiguous as it can also refer to a citizen of Burma who belongs to a different ethnic group (Karen The Karen , self-titled Pwa Ka Nyaw Po or Kayan, and also known in Thailand as the Kariang (Thai: กะเหรี่ยง) or Yang, are some languages and many ethnic groups in Burma and Thailand. The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of 47 million people, Shan The Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma (Myanmar), but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand. Though no reliable census has been taken in Burma since 1935, the Shan are estimated to number approximately 6, Kachin The Jingpho people , Jingpo (simplified Chinese: 景颇族; traditional Chinese: 景頗族; pinyin: Jǐngpō zú) or Singpho; endonyms: Jinghpaw, Tsaiva, Lechi) are an ethnic group who largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State. They also form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of, Mon The Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in present-day Burma and Thailand. In Myanmar, the Mon culture, etc.). In general, the people of Burma use "Myanmar" to describe persons of all ethnic backgrounds in Burma.

Language

The Burmese language The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese. It is the native language of the Bamar and other related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar. It is spoken by 32 million as a first language, and as a second language by, the official language of Burma, is widely spoken by many of the ethnic minorities as well as the majority Bamar. Its core vocabulary consists of Sino-Tibetan words, but many terms associated with Buddhism, arts, sciences, and government have derived from the Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and Southern Asia, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia. With written attestations appearing since the Bronze Age, in the form of the Anatolian languages and Mycenaean of Pali Pāli is a Middle Indo-Aryan language (or prakrit) of India. It is best known as the language of many of the earliest extant Buddhist scriptures, as collected in the Pāḷi Canon or Tipitaka, and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism and English English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of. The Rakhine The Rakhine , is a nationality of Myanmar, and form the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State or Arakan State. They possibly constitute 4% or more of Myanmar's total population but no accurate census figures exist. Rakhine people also live in the southeastern parts of Bangladesh, especially in Chittagong Division. A group, although culturally distinct from the Bamar, are ethnically related to the Bamar and speak a dialect of Burmese that includes retention of the /r/ sound, which has coalesced into the /j/ sound in standard Burmese (although it is still present in orthography). Additional dialects come from coastal areas of Tanintharyi Division (including Myeik (Beik) and Dawei (Tavoyan)) as well as inland and isolated areas, like the Yaw region on the hills of Chin State Chin State is a state located in western Burma (Myanmar). The 36,019-square-kilometre (13,907 sq mi) Chin State is bordered by Rakhine State in the south, Bangladesh in south-west, Sagaing Division and Magway Division in the east, Indian state of Manipur in the north and Indian state of Mizoram in the west. The (Chin) ethnic group make up the and include Yaw. Other dialects are Taungyoe, Danu, and Intha in Shan State Shan State is a state of Burma (Myanmar). Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the.^[1] English was introduced in the 1800s when the Bamar first came into contact with the British as a trading nation and continued to flourish under subsequent colonial rule.

Origins

The Bamar are of East Asian East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about 12,000,000 km2 (4,600,000 sq mi), or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe descent, and speak a Sino-Tibetan The Sino-Tibetan languages form a language family composed of, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They are second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers language (related to Tibetan Standard Tibetan, often called Central Tibetan, in Tibetan script: བོད་སྐད་, is the official language of Tibet. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an Ü-Tsang dialect of Dbus aka Ü, one of the Central Tibetan languages. The written language is based on Classical Tibetan and is highly conservative, and more distantly to Chinese Chinese or the Sinitic language (汉语／漢語 Hànyǔ; 华语／華語 Huáyǔ; 中文 Zhōngwén) is a language family consisting of languages which are mostly mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages). They migrated from the present day Yunnan Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the relative height from mountain peaks to river valleys can be as much as 3,000 m. Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of in China into the Ayeyarwady river valley in Upper Burma Upper Burma was a term used by the British to refer to the central and northern area of what is now the country of Myanmar . After the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, Lower Burma was annexed by the British Empire, while Upper Burma remained independent under the Kingdom of Burma until the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. Upper Burma was also about 1200–1500 years ago. Over the last millennium, they have largely replaced/absorbed the Mon The Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in present-day Burma and Thailand. In Myanmar, the Mon culture and the earlier Pyu Pyu refers to a collection of city-states and their language found in the central and northern regions of modern-day Burma (Myanmar) from about 100 BCE to 840 CE. The history of the Pyu is known from two main historical sources: the remnants of their civilization found in stone inscriptions (some in Pali, but rendered in the Pyu script, or a Pyu, ethnic groups that originally dominated the Ayeyarwady valley.

Distribution

The Bamar are most numerous in Burma, constituting the majority ethnic group. Many have settled in Europe, particularly in Great Britain Great Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 61.8 million people in mid-2009, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The island of. The Burmese diaspora, which is a recent phenomenon in historical terms and began at the start of World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·, has been mainly brought about by a protracted period of military rule and reflects the ethnic diversity of Burma. Firstly, the Anglo-Burmese The Anglo-Burmese, also known as the Anglo-Burmans, are a community of Eurasians of Burmese and European descent, and emerged as a distinct community through mixed relations between the British (whether English, Scots or Welsh) and other European settlers and the indigenous peoples of Burma from 1826 until 1948 when Burma gained its independence^{[citation needed]} following Burmese independence in 1948 began moving to the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and North America, to be followed by the Bamar themselves. It is by no means confined to the West; Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Korea and Japan are also popular destinations. Burmese settled in Australia, New Zealand and the UK tend to be overwhelmingly of Anglo-Burmese origins^{[citation needed]}.

Culture and society

The Bamar traditionally wear sarongs, known in Burmese as longyi (လုံချည်). Women wear a type of sarong known as htamain (ထမီ), while men wear a sarong sewn into a tube, called a longyi, or, more formally, a single long piece wrapped around the hips, known in Burmese as a paso (ပုဆိုး). Formal attire often consists of gold jewellery, silk scarves, and jackets. On formal occasions, men often wear cloth turbans called gaungbaung (ခေါင်းပေါင်း) and Mandarin collared jackets A mandarin collar is a short unfolded stand-up collar style on a shirt or jacket. Mandarin collars start at the neckline and typically rise vertically two to five centimeters. The style originated from Western interpretation of dresses wore by mandarins in imperial China called taikpon (တိုက်ပုံ), while women wear blouses. Both genders wear velvet sandals called Mandalay pa nak (မန္တလေး‌ဖိနပ်‌), although leather, rubber and plastic sandals (ဂျပန်ဖိနပ်‌, lit. Japanese shoes) are also worn. In cities and urban areas, Western dress, including T-shirts, jeans and sports shoes or trainers, has become popular, especially among the younger generation. Talismanic tattoos, earrings, and long hair tied in a knot were once common among Bamar men, but have ceased to be fashionable since after World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·; men in shorts and sporting ponytails, as well as both sexes with bleached hair, have made their appearance in Yangon Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Division. Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial center and Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 445 miles (716 km) north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Division more recently, especially in the anything-goes atmosphere of the Burmese New Year holiday known as Thingyan Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April (the Burmese month of Tagu). It is celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new year. The dates of the Thingyan festival are calculated according to the traditional Burma lunisolar calendar and hence have no fixed Roman calendar equivalent. Westernization mostly comes via Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is and Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres north of the equator, in the Southeast Asian region of the Asian continent. It is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north, and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. A. The Bamar of both sexes and all ages also wear thanaka Thanaka is a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark. It is a distinctive feature of Myanmar (formerly Burma) seen commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of women and girls and to a lesser extent men and boys. The use of thanaka has also spread to neighboring countries including Thailand, especially on their faces, although the practice is largely confined to women, children and young, unmarried men. Western makeup and cosmetics have long enjoyed a popularity in urban areas. However, thanaka is not exclusively worn by the Bamar, as many other ethnic groups throughout Burma utilize this cosmetic.

Bamar cuisine contains many regional elements, such as stir-frying techniques and curries which can be hot but lightly spiced otherwise, almost always with fish paste as well as onions, garlic, ginger, dried chilli and turmeric. Rice Rice is the seed of the monocot plant Oryza sativa. As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second highest worldwide production, after maize (ထမင်း htamin) is the staple, although noodles A noodle is a type of food with a thin and elongated shape made from unleavened dough that is cooked in a boiling liquid. Depending upon the type, noodles may be dried or refrigerated before cooking. The word derives from the German Nudel and may be related to the Latin word nodus (knot).[citation needed] (ခေါက်ဆွဲ hkauk swè), salads Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes including: vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits (အသုတ် a thouk), and breads Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on an unoiled skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened. Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may (ပေါင်မုန့် paung mont) are also eaten. Green tea Green tea is tea made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. Recently, it has become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally consumed. Many varieties is often the beverage of choice, but tea is also traditionally pickled and eaten as a salad called lahpet. The most well-known Bamar-originated dish is mohinga Mohinga is rice vermicelli in fish soup and considered by many to be the national dish of Burma. It is readily available in most parts of the country. In major cities, street hawkers and roadside stalls sell dozens of dishes of mohinga to the locals and passers-by. Although mohinga is available throughout the day, it is usually eaten as breakfast, rice noodles in a fish broth. Dishes from other ethnic minorities (Shan, Chinese, Indian) are also consumed.

Traditional Bamar music consists of an orchestra mainly of percussion and wind instruments but the saung gauk The saung is an arched harp used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition and the only surviving harp in Asia today (ဆောင်းကောက်), a boat-shaped harp, is often symbolic of the Bamar. Modern Bamar music is typically Westernized, with influences particularly from American country music Country music is a blend of traditional and popular musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States and the Canadian Maritimes that evolved rapidly in the 1920s. However, rap and hip-hop have also gained popularity. Traditional Bamar dancing is similar to Thai dancing, and is known as yodaya aka (ယိုးဒယားအက, lit. Thai dance). Puppetry is also a popular form of entertainment and is often performed at pwés, which is a generic term for shows, celebrations and festivals. In urban areas, movies from both Bollywood Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the and Hollywood Hollywood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California - situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema, and is often interchangeably used to refer to the greater Los have long been popular, but more recently Korean and Chinese films, especially DVDs, have become increasingly popular.

Rites of passage The concept as a general theory of socialization was first formally enunciated by Arnold van Gennep in his book of that name, to denote rituals marking the transitional phase between childhood and full inclusion into a tribe or social group. Gennep's work exercised a deep impact on anthropological thought are also of cultural importance to the Bamar. These include shinbyu Shinbyu is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism (ရှင်ပြု), a novitiation ceremony for Buddhist boys, and na htwin (နားသွင်း), an ear-piercing ceremony for girls.

Buddhist festivals and holidays are widely celebrated among the Bamar. Thingyan Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April (the Burmese month of Tagu). It is celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new year. The dates of the Thingyan festival are calculated according to the traditional Burma lunisolar calendar and hence have no fixed Roman calendar equivalent, the Water Festival, which marks the beginning of the Burmese New Year in April, is one such example. Thadingyut, which marks the end of the Buddhist lent Vassa , also called Rains Retreat, is the traditional retreat during the rainy season lasting for three lunar months from July to October. During this time Buddhist monks remain in a single place, generally in their temples. In some monasteries, monks dedicate the Vassa to intensive meditation. During Vassa, many Buddhist lay people reinvigorate, is celebrated with the Festival of Lights in October. Kathina Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists. The season during which a monastery may hold a 'Kathina' festival is one month long, beginning after the full moon of the eleventh month in the Lunar calendar . In order to hold a 'Kathina', a monastery must have had five or robe offering ceremony for monks is held at the start of Lent in July and again in November.

Religion

The majority of Bamar are Buddhists Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by adherents as an of the Theravada tradition. People are expected to keep the basic five precepts and practise dana (charity), Śīla (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.

The Bamar practise Buddhism along with nat worship which predated Buddhism. It involves rituals relating to a pantheon of 37 Nats designated by King Anawrahta, although many minor nats are also worshipped. In villages, many houses have outdoors altars to honor nats, called nat ein (နတ်အိမ်‌), in addition to one outside the village known as nat sin (နတ်စင်‌) often under a bo tree. Indoors in many households, one may find a coconut called nat oun up the main post for the Eindwin Min Mahagiri (အိမ်တွင်းမင်းမဟာဂိရိ; lit. "Indoors Lord of the Great Mountain"), one of the most important of the Nats.

Naming

The Bamar typically use the day of birth (traditional 8-day calendar, which includes Yahu, Wednesday afternoon) as the basis for naming. Letters from groups within the Burmese alphabet are designated to certain days, from which the Bamar choose names^[2]. They are chosen as follows:

In the past, the Bamar typically had shorter names, usually limited to one or two syllables. However, the trend of adopting longer names (4 or 5 for females and 3 for males) has become popular. Bamar names also frequently make use of Pali-derived loan words.

See also

• Burmese people
• Culture of Burma
• Category:Burmese people
• Demographics of Burma
• Danu people
• Rakhine people

Notes

1. ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (2005). "Language Family Trees". Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90255. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
2. ^ Shway Yoe (Sir James George Scott) (1882), The Burman: his life and notions, London: Macmillan (Reprint: Norton, New York, 1963) pp. 4-6

References

• Khin Myo Chit (1980). Flowers and Festivals Round the Burmese Year.
• Tsaya (1886). Myam-Ma, The Home of the Burman. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.. pp. 36–37. http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=sea;cc=sea;sid=40c565a47750ac05acd1a56fe2bec38b;rgn=author;q1=Tsaya;view=toc;subview=short;sort=occur;start=1;size=25;idno=sea314.

External links

• The Silken East - A Record of Life and Travel in Burma by V. C. Scott O'Connor 1904
• Wai, Kyi (2007-06-15). "Burmese Women's Hair in Big Demand". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071111203543/http://www.irrawaddy.org/Multimedia/Hair/index.php.

Categories: Ethnic groups in Burma | Buddhist communities

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