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Superstitions, astrology, numerology and soothsayers play important roles in Myanmar society, just like in many other asian countries. But for the Burmese generals, these superstitions are not only important, they often become real obsessions that lead to irrational and sometimes self-defeating behaviours.
Very recently, in Shwegyin, Bago Region, local farmers have been pressed to plant sunflowers in place of the usual crops. The Burmese word for sunflower, နေကြာ (nay kyar) means “long lasting”, and the ever superstitious regime generals believe these flowers will make them stay in power for long.
We have seen many women wearing sunflower patterns during the Thadingyut celebrations. Sure, it may be a coincidence (fabric with sunflower patterns seem to be popular this year), but the fact that hosts on military-controlled TV channel MRTV .were wearing “nay kyaar” patterns, was surely not.

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Burmese people have a very strong and quick sense of humor though, and pro-democracy netizens started posting pictures of lotus buds, “kyar-bu” in Burmese language, which means “it won’t last”!
Another superstition that may be linked to the word “kyar”, is the tradition to donate dishes with vermicelli noodles, ကြာဇံ (kyar san) in Burmese. ကြာ​စံ (which is also pronounced as “kyar san”), means “to last”.

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Many of the generals superstitions revolve around “hpone” (ဘုန်း), a certain “power” or “aura” that derives from being a man. Myanmar people believe that touching or even walking under a piece of clothing worn below a woman’s waist will diminish a man’s power. This belief was used by Burmese activists during the first anti-coup protests in February 2021. To slow down the advance of Burmese soldiers against the protesters, these activists hung htamein (ထဘီ, the women’s longyis or skirts) on the street. But some went even further, using sanitary pads over pictures of general Min Aung Hlaing, to curse him.

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Former dictator general Ne Win was obsessed with numerology. In 1987 he declared certain circulated denominations of currency invalid (we wrote about it here https://www.facebook.com/ciaomyanmarnews/posts/198389552305846), while issuing new denominations of 45 and 90 kyats. Many speculated this was decided on the recommendation of an astrologer, who told Ne Win to pay attention to the his lucky number 9 to have a long life (both 45 and 90 are divisible by nine, the sum of 4+5 and 9+0 is 9). On the 90 kyat note there is the portrait of relatively unknown Saya San, instead of national hero General Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi). Ne Win died at age 92.

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His decision to change from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side in 1970, was probably caused by his astrologer feeling that the country’s policies were moving too much towards the left.

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Another obsession generals have, is the one for names. At one point, during the Than Shwe regime, the generals ordered people all over the country to grow castor oil trees, which in Burmese is translated as ကြက်ဆူဆီ, Kyaat Suu se, which is somehow an anagram of စုကြည် (Suu Kyi) , the name of the democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi who is currently under arrest. Moreover Kyaat Suu is a “Monday-Tuesday” name, while Suu Kyi is a “Tuesday-Monday” name (in Myanmar the initial letters of a name depend on the birthday). While officially the goal of the project was to produce biofuel, the attempt to neutralize “The Lady”, may have played a large role. After all, Than Shwe was said to have seven personal astrologers, many of which were tasked to focus exclusively on Aung San Suu Kyi. Needless to say, the castor oil project failed, either way.
Even the decision to move the capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw (which means Royal City in the sun), was probably not (only) the result of a rational decision. It took 10 years to build the capital (a project that grew many cronies even richer). The move made so little sense that most embassies are still based in Yangon, and the city is virtually empty most of the times.

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Yangon is the economic heart of the country, but dictator Than Shwe decided to move the government in the middle of a jungle near Pyinmana following the advice of his astrologers who predicted a disaster if the capital stayed in Yangon. The capital was inaugurated on November 6th, 2005 at 6:37 am (only an astrologer would decide such an early time!). Government workers departed altogether and moved from Yangon to the new capital on November 11th (11-11) at 11 am. 11, in fact, was Than Shwe’s lucky number, and many jail sentences of his opposers reflected it.
Even the change of the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar (which are basically synonyms and derive form the word Bamar) followed the advice of soothsayers.
The founding of Independent Burma took place on January 4th, 1948, at 4:20 a.m., another time surely chosen by an astrologer.
Another historical event was based on numerology, but this time it involves the pro-democracy movement. The famous 8888 Revolution was launched on August 8th, 1988 (8-8-88), as many believed 8 was a lucky number. The concept was resumed by the Spring Revolution this year, who launched a mass anti-coup protest on February 22nd, 2021 (2-22-2021), nicknaming it the “22222 Revolution”
But my absolute favourite, irrational and superstitious moment, dates back to February 2011, when dictator general Than Shwe and other top generals appeared in public wearing women’s longyis (htamein or skirts). Many believe that his astrologers predicted that a woman would one day lead the country.
Well, even astrologers can be right, after all!


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