Description:
"Today, I want to send my heartfelt wishes to my Karenni brothers and sisters on their New Year Day,
which falls on 1st day of Tagoo. Karenni New Year Day is celebrated with Kay Htoe Boe festival, a
traditional festival held and celebrated by all tribes in Karenni state. During the celebration, a tree is
cut off and carved into totem pole, painted and decorated with traditional symbols representing
Karenni culture. The festival is usually followed by dance competitions, costume contests and other
entertainment programs.
Just like all of Myanmar's many ethnicities, the Karenni people are also suffering from oppression
and crimes committed by the military over decades, resulting in waves of refugees fleeing to border
camps in Thailand. Karenni new year celebrations were not permitted in the cities until 2014 after
the KNPP signed the NCA with the military. But even that tenuous peace was not to last long, and
coup last year showed us. The atrocities by the military have continued and since the coup, hundreds
of innocent Karenni ethnic people have been killed by the military. And recently, more and more
offensive attacks and air strikes have been launched by the military in Karenni state, often targeting
civilian settlements and IDP camps. Villages and cities have been destroyed, causing more people to
flee to the jungles. Those who weren't able to flee were mercilessly gunned down or burned alive by
the fascist army.
It is tradition in the celebration of Karenni New Year to ask for blessings of well-being, wealth, peace
and prosperity in life. Instead, our Karenni people are fleeing to the jungles, their homes and
livelihoods destroyed from the inhuman acts by the military. My only wish for this new year is that
this will be the last year our country is under this fascist regime and all of us will be able to celebrate
our new year festivities in our own ways freely. We must stay united to achieve our shared goal of a
free and true federal democracy, where a better tomorrow awaits us..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. Sasa via Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of Publication:
2022-04-01
Date of entry:
2022-04-01
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar
Language:
English
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Format:
pdf
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29.98 KB
Resource Type:
text
Text quality:
- Good