essay

The Taumgbyon festival: locality and nation-confronting in the Cult of the 37 Lords

Burma at the turn of the twenty-first centuryHonoluluPublished In 2005 • Pages: 65-89

By: Brac de la Perrière, Bénédicte, Dolidon, Anabelle.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of nat festivals and the institutionalization of the nat cult. The cult and festivals are a contested arena and reveal the tensions that lay between the nation state and local communities. Although the nats have been incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon and cosmology, they continue to symbolize and express autochthonous principle that supported local autonomy in resistance to the centralizing power of the state.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Spirits and gods
Sacred objects and places
Ritual
Prophets and ascetics
Congregations
Organized ceremonial
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Burmans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2012
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeast Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Anthropologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard; 2011
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1986-2000
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1820-2002
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Taungbyon, Burma
NotesAdditional notes
Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière ; translated by Annabelle Dolidon
The nat spirits were institutionalized by King Anawrahta (1044û1077) of Bagan. The list of nats has been revised repeatedly over the centuries. The earliest reference in this article is to 1820, the year of the most recent revision.
for bibliographical references see document 39:Skidmore
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
2005003440
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Burma--Social life and customs