|
|
|
Richard Humpheries (Black and White) Jason Miller Shwe Koako, Karen State Sylvia Murcfeld Photographs Jean de La Tour Richard Humphries _______________ Version Date June 2004 12/01/2005 Website: Designed, Built and written by Paul Keenan |
Animism
Similarly, other legends tell of the Na, an animal spirit, formed by Ywa (God) who in olden times had mixed together the flesh of every animal and beast and then instructed the Karens to eat them, if they failed to consume the flesh of every animal then that creature’s spirit would eat them. They failed to eat the flesh of the Na and since that time it preyed upon them causing sickness and death.[2] However, the most dangerous are seven spirits who will kill the Karen, one by the mouth of a tiger, one by old age, one by sickness, one by drowning, one by the hand of man, one by a fall and the last by every other means.[3]
In addition to the ‘K’la’s’ Karen animism also contains a number of spiritual beings who must be appeased. [5]. The most important of these beings are considered to have human attributes and are able to control the destinies of mankind they include ‘Mu xa’ and ‘Hti k’ sa Kaw k’sa’, who are attributed to containing divine, god-like powers. Also in the group is ‘Naw k plaw’ or ‘Mu kaw li’ who forms the opposite of the two akin to Satan, others are ‘Hpi Bi Yaw’ the rice maiden who is responsible for the crops, ‘Hku Te’ the ruler of hell and ‘Teu Kweh’ the rainbow. It is now common to find that even though many Karens consider themselves Buddhist, a high proportion of them still continue to believe it traditional animism often mixing the two beliefs together.
|
Before
the large scale conversion of the Christian missionaries in the 1800s the
majority of the Karen worshipped a form of animism with a belief that every
living thing contained a spirit (K’la) and that every place, river mountain or
forest had its own Lord with a number of servants (ghosts) made from the spirits
of those people who had died a violent death. These servants, smoking pipes with
gold and silver stems and armed with swords and spears were said to lurk
throughout the Karen homeland, and should anyone accidentally touch them then
the unfortunate victim was stricken with diseases that could only be cured by
blood sacrifices.
The
Karens’ main belief is that the body is separated into two parts the ‘tha’ or
soul and the ‘K’la’ or shade. The ‘tha’ is more concerned with the moral nature
and forms conscience. The ‘K’la’ on the other hand is seen more as the flesh,
which performs actions including that of keeping the person alive. It is the
K’la’ that is constantly under attack from the spirits mentioned above, thus
necessitating charms and herbs to protect against malevolent spirits. The ‘K’la’
is said to leave the body at death and then reappear in the form of the ‘K’la’
of a newly born child. Additionally it is also believed that the ‘K’la’ leaves
the body at times of sleep and should the body be woken before the ‘K’la’
returns then death will ensue.