Burma

If you are of a certain age, I bet I know the first thing that comes to mind when you see the word “Burma.”  Be honest now, I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with Aung San Suu Kyi or the dreadful military tyrants that have had the country in lockdown for the last fifty years. Your first thought may go something like this: “Does your husband, Misbehave?  Grunt and Grumble, Rant and Rave?                               Shoot the Brute…Some Burma Shave!” I know you wouldn’t remember the exact words of the doggerel but, more likely than not, you would have thought of Burma Shave. That’s about where I started out as...

The Mystery of the Longyi

S. and I have just returned from traveling in Burma, now Myanmar, for the last ten days or so, and while recollections are still fresh, I hope to give you some of my observations about a country that has only recently opened to foreigners after fifty years of seclusion.  This first piece deals with an aspect of their culture that is central to their life style and my inability to adapt it to my own use. The longyi (pronounced lawn-gee) is the foundation of the national costume of Burma. Roughly described it is a piece of cloth three and a half feet by six feet with the ends sewn together to form a wide tube. It is the same for men and women except for the...