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Published: February 2nd 2013
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Nat Gadaw
Smoking, dancing, and drinking to lure the nats. She's the leader. Note: unfortunately, it seems that a big batch of photos is inaccessible on my memory card, so at this time I cannot download photos of the nats at Mount Popa. Maybe that is meant to be.
I missed writing about nats, but now it is very appropriate. I witnessed the other day an unusual ritual as my driver and I headed toward the pilgrimage site of Kyaiktiyo.
There was a tremendous banging on the side of the road. People were gathered under a shelter, and they were watching four women dancing. They were older women, dressed in shiny dresses of white or orange. On a platform at one end of the room were bowls of fruit and flowers. A man with a microphone sang loudly to the accompaniment of the traditional instruments of drums and gongs. A huge loud speaker made it almost unbearable to listen through the noise.
I sensed that the four women were in a trance state as they moved vigorously around the floor, waving their arms like snakes. Then I noticed a tall thin figure with hair tied back and dressed much like a woman with makeup and longyi. It was a
Mt Popa Nats
Mae Wunna, or the "Flower Eating Ogress" and her two sons. I placed my offering of flowers and money with the son on the left. male transvestite, and he offered the women lit cigarettes, and they put them in their mouths and started puffing as they danced. After a while, they stopped puffing, and took a sip of alcohol from cups that he brought.
Nearby men sawed wood logs, and filled a long trench with them. This was for fire walking later.
We left after watching for awhile. They were going to continue for many more hours.
Once a year in this area they do this ritual for the nats, called a nat pwe, or nat festival. My understanding is that nat gadaw, or a nat wife, invites the nats to take possession of their bodies. Nats are spirit beings. Some of the major nats are the spiriits of people who died violent deaths. But there are many more nats, and nat worship is found in many places. Sometimes it expresses itself in small shrines at the base of banyan trees, or sometimes it is much more grandiose, as at Mt. Popa which I visited earlier with the group.
The ritual was quite amazing. I was happy that we happened to see it, and that my driver suggested stopping.
Mt.
Dancing "Nat Wives"
After looking more closely at the photos of the women, I have concluded that all of them are probably men dressed as women. Popa was just as amazing. At the base of an extinct volcano that rises near vertically, there is a shrine that houses about 37 lifelike images of nats. People come to ask for good fortune, good health, and so on. I got the impression from our guide that people who believe in nats take them very seriously, because they can either help you or make life miserable for you. Mt. Popa has a major nat, a woman nat and her two sons, and they greeted me at the entrance.
I had purchased some jasmine earlier, and decided to give it to the nats. I climbed a platform to where the three main nats were, and draped the flowers over the nat's fingers. I also gave him some money, and placed some bills in a growing funnel of bills left by other worshippers. I think he blinked. It was very powerful. I hope you can sense their power from the photos.
I later learned that a woman in our group did not like the nat experience at all. She said she deleted all her photos of them from her camera. Another group member said she felt so uncomfortable she
Nat Gadaw
A man dressed as a woman who participates in the nat pwe, or nat festival. took no photographs.
My experience, however, was a good one.
After visiting the nats, we climbed the steps up to the top to the temple complex, which was a curious mixture of Buddha images and nat images.
We had to dodge monkey poo on the steps. The monkeys hang out in the rafters of the covered walkway, looking for a purse, hat, or piece of fruit to snatch from the pilgrims' hands. I made the mistake of looking directly into the eyes of a big male monkey, and he suddenly lunged at me. I screamed.
Monkeys stole a whole bag of oranges from our guideās hands. So we had none to eat later on the bus.
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