Karen New Year

The Karen New Year (S'gaw Karen: ကညီနံၣ်ထီၣ်သီ), also known as the Kayin New Year (Burmese: ကရင်နှစ်သစ်ကူး), is one of the major holidays celebrated by the Karen people.[1] The Karen New Year falls on the first day of Pyatho, the tenth month in the Burmese calendar,[2] and typically falls in December or January. The timing coincides with the completion of the Southeast Asian rice harvest in the lead-up to Pyatho.[3] Celebrations typically include don dances and bamboo dances, singing, speeches, and the consumption of food and alcohol.[4] The day is a gazetted public holiday in Myanmar.[5]

Karen New Year
Official nameကညီနံၣ်ထီၣ်သီ
Observed byKaren people
TypeCultural
DateFirst Day in Pyatho
FrequencyAnnual

History

The Karen New Year was established in 1937 or 1938.[4][6] The holiday was recognized by the British colonial administration as a public holiday in 1938.[7][8] In 2017, the two Karen major insurgent groups, leaders from the Karen National Liberation Army and the Karen National Union, jointly celebrated the Karen New Year for the first time since 1967 in Kayin State's Hlaingbwe Township.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Kayin New Year Day".
  2. Juliet Shwe Gaung (10 January 2011). "Kayin mark New Year". Myanmar Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  3. Jolliffe, Pia (2016-09-07). Learning, Migration and Intergenerational Relations: The Karen and the Gift of Education. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-57218-9.
  4. "Karen New Year". Karen Culture Organization of Texas (USA). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  5. "Public Holidays in Myanmar 2021". Myanmar eVisa. Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  6. Han, Naw Betty (2017-12-14). "KNU, KNLA leaders to mark Karen New Year together". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  7. Smith, Martin (1991). Burma - Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London and New Jersey: Zed Books. pp. 50–51, 62–63, 72–73, 78–79, 82–84, 114–118, 86, 119.
  8. "The First Karen New Year Message, 1938" (PDF). Karen Heritage. 1 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
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