The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-01
suRMAH's PHooNGYeE eYAM.
Queer Burial Ceremonies Where Every
One Gets Drunk and Fights.

from the Times or Burman.
A ''phoongyee byan" corresponds to
an Irish wake. The gilded coffin con-
tanning the body of the deceased
phoongyee (priesD in layers of pulver-
lied charcoal is placed with a. great
deal of pomp and much ceremony
on platform % feet above the ground
in the center of a large rectangle in
some open space near the village. 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. This platform
is occupied as long as the show lasts by
young men in different stages of intox-
ication and with faces Enthusiastically
particolored. They spend their time
bowling. dancing, beating drums, clash
ing cymbals and indulging in obscene
travagant expressions of sorrow on the
dear and sacred departed, all with no
more apparent object than to raise a
laugh a mile around.
At one corner of the rectangle is
huge pyre of bamboo, shaped like moth
ing in particular and pasted over with
the gaudiest of gaudy wall papers. On
this the corpse is eventually cremated,
the ashes being collected in an urn for
deposit in the kyOung to which the
phOOngyee belonged, or if his rank was
sufficiently high, as the foundation for
an umbrella-topped pagoda. Ranged
on the four sides of the TeCtangle are
sheds occupied by phoongyees from the
neighbOring villages. The pupils of each
of these phOongyes being a 'pyathat,"
a towering structure of the eVer-useful
bamboo, with a sort of shelf on the top
to hold coffin. presumably to do honor
to the deceased. AS almost every viii
lage here has it's kyoung, the higher the
degree of the deceased priest the larger
the number of ''pyathats."
The tahoots are of different shapes,
some like elephants, others like China
men. One enterprising village fur
nished a BurmaniZed version of an
English lady, not forgetting the sun
shade. Another villages exhibitor
that is what they resolve themselves
into was a chin, all made with a little
shelf to hold the coffin. The myook in
some cases a sadOw, high priest, |
suppose, occupies a shed on the side of
the rectangle opposite the pyre. At
given signal, the beat of a deep-toned
gong, the taboots are brought one by
one from their places to the shed of
the phoongyee byan president, having
taken on it's way the coffin from the
platform Uhe coffin being more or less
securely fastened to the "pyathats'D.
l may add that the villagers who carry
the "pyathats" generally form them
selves into a band of dancers, called a
"hanpwe."
Almost everyone in Burmah is famil-
lar with the contOrtions of hand and
body that constitute the Barman dance,
so l will not intlict you with descrip-
ton of the details of the hans" beyond
mentioning that one branch are known
as the hap dab ham," another as the
chiefly ham," the poi thi draw han"
and so on. Well, arrived at the prin-
Cipal shed the band of dancers arrange
themselves before the "pyathat' and
begin a sensuous dance to a chorus
that goes with tilt and is simply ire
sistible 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 coffin and
burned and every one goes home jov-
tally drunk.
l do not pretend to know how things
are done in other parts of Burmah. but
this is how I see them done in Salin
and Sinbyuyun. Several free fights,
ending in broken heads, took place be
tween villagers carrying ''pyathats'
There is some mystic rivalry at the
bottom
The first time / saw a "byan" here
l thought it interestingly savage; the
second was savage only, and l have
never been to a third. CROWDS, aust
and drunkards do not form combin-
alton with sufficient attractions for
me. The township officer, Mig Pc 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 'dokes' and
"dahs." / should reckon the police
were enough to keep order, but they
themselves needed to be kept in or
der. as the majority of them were as
drunk as fish. One of the guardians
of the peace fell foul of a 'pyathat,
and almost pulled it to bits, to the rage
of the phoongyee proprietor, who could
not understand the onslaught, as his
pupils We're going along peaceably
enough. Why will the police get
drunk on the few occasions on which
they are called upon to be sober? The
not uncommon spectacles in these jun
giles of a preternaturally sober police.
man staggering along with a hopeless
ly drunken villager at the end of q
chain has always seemed to me the
best practical illustration Of the fig.
ure of speech known as irony"