If you are planning for an Indochina tour, Pa-oh village of In Dein, Myanmar should be on your list of place to travel. Pa-oh People is an ethnic minority in Myanmar. Nowadays, this community still preserves many traditional features and habits from long ago.
Unique Pa-oh People’s clothes
Black and navy blue are typical colors of Pa-oh people. Pa-oh men’s traditional outfit includes a turban, a white shirt, black or navy jacket and long black trousers. Women tradition outfit comprises five pieces; a blouse, a jacket, a longyi, that covers the knees, a turban and two hair pins. All of them pin a Pa-oh flag badge on to their jacket which represents the Zawgyi and Dragon. Read more Myanmar tour
The Fire Rocket Festival
The locals call fire rocket festival “Pway Lu-Phaing”. “Pway” means festival, “Lue” means donation and “Phaing” means to remove ours sins”. This festival takes place during the months of April to July
As an agricultural country, Pa-oh people believe that celebrating this festival brings good rains during the planting season. It is believed that rockets help the clouds make rain. For one week, the unity of the big community is clearly shown as different villages gathering together. This is the most important festival of Pa-oh villagers. You can say that when you see how big the festival is: the largest rockets can contain the amount of gunpowder up to 20 kilograms. Only after being carried around the local temple is the rocket fired.
Interesting marriage custom
Like many other traditional Asian cultures, marriages in Pa-oh depends a lot in the parents. However, while lots of Asian cultures have changed in this modern life, Pa-oh people still follow the tradition. First of all, on behalf of their son, the man’s parents visit the young woman’s house to ask her parents. It takes 4 or 5 days for the woman family to make a decision. At the marriage ceremony, guests tie cotton threads around the wrists of both the bridegroom and bride. Do you want to join and ‘tie it up’ for them?
Inspiration from daily life
Apart from festivals and ceremonies, every day is the same at Pa-oh village. They wear the traditional dress and work on the field all day. Morning starts with hustle bustle of womenfolk preparing to go to work. Early morning, while the men chant their daily meditation before the family shrine, women cook and prepare food. The food for lunch is slung across their shoulders. They do weeding and harrowing whole day long. This simple life still bring them happiness, which inspires visitors to stay positive.
No magnificent buildings, no crowded roads, no too many profitable services, Pa-oh village still attracts tourists from all over the world with its simplicity. Should you have a chance to be there, you will soon love the land, the people and their life.
The Indochina Voyages team.
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