Kachin Manau Dance Site Bulldozed

LAIZA, Kachin State—Burmese military authorities have ordered an ethnic Kachin cultural festival site in the city of Bhamo in Kachin State to be bulldozed, ahead of a traditional Kachin “Manau” dance ceremony on Nov 26-28 at which some 10,000 people were expected to attend.

Entire Kachin communities celebrate Manau festivals and participate in the traditional Manau dance, a large communal dance that unites the Kachin community and affirms their cultural identity. In addition to the Kachin, many ethnic groups and Buddhist monks come together and dance at the Manau.

“It creates unity among everyone and the junta is afraid of that,” said a Kachin man who had planned to go to the Bhamo Manau. Bilingual invitations were sent out in Shan and Burmese.    

In June, Col Khin Maung Myint, the chairman of the Bhamo District Peace and Development Council, ordered the renovation of the ceremony site to be stopped, saying: “There are different ethnic groups in Bhamo and the site would damage the unity of the city.”

However, the military government has given permission to build hundreds of Buddhist pagodas throughout Kachin State, despite a lack of Buddhists in the region.

Khin Maung Myint reportedly arrived at the Manau ceremony site at 10 a.m. On Nov. 12, accompanied by police and a bulldozer. Despite protests by local Kachin, the site was destroyed by bulldozers soon after.

The Kachin Literature & Cultural Committee, which claims to own the site, was reportedly told that if the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) accepted the military regime’s border guard force proposal they could hold their Manau dance without restrictions.

“This is a typical of the junta’s divide-and-conquer tactics to get the Kachin people to fight among ourselves,” said KIA Vice-chief of Staff Gen Gun Maw. 

In 1961, the military government expelled all foreign missionaries and nationalized all missionary schools. Schools were thereafter required to teach lessons in Burmese language only.

“Their ultimate goal is, with their military might, to eliminate all ethnic peoples inside Myanmar—their languages, their culture, their literatures,” said a Kachin who witnessed the destruction.

Despite the damage to the ceremony site, the Kachin Literature & Cultural Committee said it plans to continue with the Manau dance. 

The Kachin are an ethnic group in Burma that number about 1.3 million and are predominately Christians.  The six sub-groups that make up the Kachin have distinct languages and dress, but share clan names, cosmology and the Manau dance, which is based on traditional spirit, or nat, worship.