Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-04
BURMAH's PHooNGYEr BYAN.
Queer Burial Ceremonies. where
Every One Gets Drunk and Fights.

queer Uura@I CeremOn4e1, where
Every One Gets Drunk and Fights.
From the Times Of Burmah.
A "phoongyee byan'' corresponds to an
Irish wake. The eilded coffin containing
the body Of the deceased phoongyee (priest)
in layers of pulverized charcoal is placed
with a great deal Of pomp and much cir
cumstance on platform twenty-five feet
above the ground in The center of large
rectangle in some open space near the vii
lage. In Sinbyugyun the bed of the brook,
west of the village. serves this purpose ex-
cellently. Later on the people drink the
water Of the brook. ifhis platform is oc-
cupied as long the9show lasts by young
men in different stages of intoXication and
with faces Enthusiastically particolored. They
spend their time bowling dancing, beating
drums, clashing cymbals and INDUCING In
obscene jests, bestowing at intervals most
extravagant expressions of sorrow on the
dear and sacred departed, all with no more
apparent object than to raise laugh a
mile around.
AT one corner of the rectangle Is a huge
pyre of bamboo, shaped like nothing in par
ticular and pasted over with the gaudiest
of gaudy wall papers. On this the corpse
Is eventually cremated. the ashes being col
lected in an urn for deposit in the kyoung
to which the phoongyee belonged, or, if his
rank was sufficiently high, as the founda-
ton for umbrela-topped pagoda.
Ranged on the four sides of the rectangle
are sheds occupied by phoongyees from the
neighboring villages. The pupils of each of
these phoongyees bring "pyathat,'' a tow
ering structure of the ever-useful bamboo.
with a sort of shelf the top to hold a
coffin, presumably to do honor to the de-
ceased. AS almost every village here has
its kyoung, the higher the degree of the de-
ceased priest the larger the number of
"pyathats.''
The taboots are of different shapes, some
like elephants, others like Cinnamon. One
eli will 1ofZ
version of an English lady, not forgetting
the sunshade. Another villages exhibit
for that Is what they resolve themselves
into-was chin, all made with a little shelf
to hold the coffin. The myook, in some
cases a sadow, high priest. 1 suppose, oc-
cupes shed on the side of the rectangle
opposite the pyre. AT a given signal, the
beat CT a deeptoned gong, the taboots are
brought one by one from their places to the
shed of the phoongyee byan president, hav-
ing taken on its way the coffin from the
platform (the coffin being more or less Sc
curely fastened to the "pyathats.O L may
add that the villagers who carry the ''py-
athats'' generally from themselves into
band of dancers, called "hanpwe.
Almost every one in Burmah is familiar
with the contortions of hand and body that
constitute the Burman dance. SO ] will not
inflict you with description of the details
of the hans" beyond mentioning that one
branch are known as the hap dab han.
another as the chiefly ham, the poe thu
daw han and on. Well, arrived at the
principal shed the band of dancers arrange
themselves before the ''pyathat and begin
a sensuous dance to a chorus that goes
with a lit, and is simply Irresistible to the
gay Burman, the coffin meanwhile being
hustled in its perch as the bearers sway
to and fro in wild rhythm to the weird
music. After all the 'pyathats" have had
their turn the body is taken out of the cof-
fin and burned and every one goes home
jovially drunk l do not pretend to know
how things are done in other parts of Bur
man. but this is how l see them done in
Salin and Sinbyuyun. Several free fights,
ending in broken heads, took place between
villagers carrying "pyathats. There is
some mystic rivalry at the bottom.
The first time saw a "byan' here i
thought it interestingly savage; the second
was savage only, and I4.have never been to
a third Crowds, dust and drunkards do not
form combination with sufficient attrac-
tons for me. The township officer, MIG 70
Than, was very much in evidence during
the proceedings, and has earned the thanks
of the happy few who got out of the melee
scot free from ''dokesI' and "dahs.' l
should reckon theDpolise were enough to
keep order, but they themselves needed to
be kept in order, the majority of them
were as drunk as fish. One of the guar
dams of the peace tell foul of a "pyathat."
and almost pulled il to bits to the rage of
understand the onslaught as his pupils
were going along peaceably enough. Why
will the police get drunk on the few occas-
ions ON which they are called upon to be
sober? The not uncommon SpectacleS m
these jungles of a(preternaturally sober po-
liceman staggering along with hopeleSsly
drunken viliager at the end OF a CHAIN mas
lustration of the figure of speech known as
''irOnV''