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Bagan, Myanmar

Ancient temples, ancient stupas, ancient pagodas, buddhas, frescos, street food, local people, sunrise, sunset, oxen, Bos indicus, horse drawn carts, moon rise, lacquer ware production
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Portrait of a young boy at Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Re comments about the stuff on his face: Thanaka is a cosmetic paste made from the ground bark from the Thanaka tree that is widely used in Myanmar, mostly by women and children. It smells something like sandalwood and has a number of beneficial properties including protection from sunburn, preventing acne and promoting a smooth, beautiful skin.<br /> <br /> Shwezigon Pagoda is one of the oldest of ancient Bagan. It was completed by King Kyanzittha in 1089 to house a tooth relic and hairs of the Buddha. It is the most important reliquary shrine (meaning built to house a Buddha relic) in the Bagan area. Pilgrims from throughout Burma travel here each year in the Burmese month of Nadaw (November-December) to celebrate. This festival includes both elements of pre-Buddhist Nat worship (Nats are pagan anamistic spirits) and Buddhist themes. Shwezigon is thus a center of pilgrimage for both the archaic shamanic culture of Burma and the newer religion of Buddhism.<br /> <br /> Other photos from around the temple can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/Wb5hH">http://goo.gl/Wb5hH</a>
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Portrait of a young boy at Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar

Re comments about the stuff on his face: Thanaka is a cosmetic paste made from the ground bark from the Thanaka tree that is widely used in Myanmar, mostly by women and children. It smells something like sandalwood and has a number of beneficial properties including protection from sunburn, preventing acne and promoting a smooth, beautiful skin.

Shwezigon Pagoda is one of the oldest of ancient Bagan. It was completed by King Kyanzittha in 1089 to house a tooth relic and hairs of the Buddha. It is the most important reliquary shrine (meaning built to house a Buddha relic) in the Bagan area. Pilgrims from throughout Burma travel here each year in the Burmese month of Nadaw (November-December) to celebrate. This festival includes both elements of pre-Buddhist Nat worship (Nats are pagan anamistic spirits) and Buddhist themes. Shwezigon is thus a center of pilgrimage for both the archaic shamanic culture of Burma and the newer religion of Buddhism.

Other photos from around the temple can be seen here: http://goo.gl/Wb5hH

  • Lone woman praying to Buddha, Dhammayangi <br /> Temple, Bagan, Myanmar
  • Dhammayangyi Temple, Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> This is the largest temple in Bagan,with the finest brick work. It is said that the bricks fit so tightly together that you can't put a needle between them (of course the workers had an incentive to make the bricks fit so well - they were executed if they didn't).
  • Two school children, Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> I don't think the chid showing me his drawing realized that it was upside down.
  • Stupas, temples and royal palm trees, Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> When I saw this scene, I was stuck by the many repeatlng vertical lines, both natural and man-made.
  • Relic stupa showing details of construction, Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Relic stupas contain a relic of a holy person within the stucture. The ornate interior structure is often covered with an outer brick structure. In this photo, part of the outer structure has fallen away, revealing the beautiful inner structure.
  • Women praying for favours, Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar
  • Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Shwezigon Pagoda is one of the oldest of ancient Bagan. It was completed in by King Kyanzittha in 1089 to house a tooth relic and hairs of the Buddha. It is the most important reliquary shrine (meaning built to house a Buddha relic) in the Bagan area. Pilgrims from throughout Burma travel here each year in the Burmese month of Nadaw (November-December) to celebrate. This festival includes both elements of pre-Buddhist Nat worship (Nats are pagan anamistic spirits) and Buddhist themes. Shwezigon is thus a center of pilgrimage for both the archaic shamanic culture of Burma and the newer religion of Buddhism.
  • Main entry to Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar
  • Portrait of a young boy at Shwezigon Pagoda, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Re comments about the stuff on his face: Thanaka is a cosmetic paste made from the ground bark from the Thanaka tree that is widely used in Myanmar, mostly by women and children. It smells something like sandalwood and has a number of beneficial properties including protection from sunburn, preventing acne and promoting a smooth, beautiful skin.<br /> <br /> Shwezigon Pagoda is one of the oldest of ancient Bagan. It was completed by King Kyanzittha in 1089 to house a tooth relic and hairs of the Buddha. It is the most important reliquary shrine (meaning built to house a Buddha relic) in the Bagan area. Pilgrims from throughout Burma travel here each year in the Burmese month of Nadaw (November-December) to celebrate. This festival includes both elements of pre-Buddhist Nat worship (Nats are pagan anamistic spirits) and Buddhist themes. Shwezigon is thus a center of pilgrimage for both the archaic shamanic culture of Burma and the newer religion of Buddhism.<br /> <br /> Other photos from around the temple can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/Wb5hH">http://goo.gl/Wb5hH</a>
  • Women bringing food offering, Shwezigon Pagoda, Nyaung Oo, Myanmar<br /> <br /> I liked that the woman's outfit had colours that complimented the colours of the pagoda and she added balance to the image.<br /> <br /> For other views of the pagoda, including its use as a fancy pigeon roost, see here: <a href="http://goo.gl/VYEqTU">http://goo.gl/VYEqTU</a>
  • Local women sitting in ornate temple, Shwezigon Pagoda, Nyaung Oo, Myanmar
  • Shwezigon Pagoda with pilgrims and pigeons, Hyuang Oo, Myanmar
  • Golden pigeon roost, Shwezigon Pagoda, Nyaung Oo, Myanmar
  • Woman weaving a pot from bamboo strips. The pot will eventually be turned into lacquer ware, Bagan, Mayanmar
  • Doing the traditional circumnavigation of the base of Shwezigon Pagoda, Nyaung Oo, Myanmar
  • Lacquer ware workers applying gold leaf designs to bowls, near Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> There is an intricate technique used to apply gold leaf. It begins with placing a quantity of resin of the neem tree in water, which by the next day has formed a viscous glue. This is then strained through a cloth and mixed with the yellow colouring agent. The technique is based on the principle that where the gum mixture is painted on, the gold leaf will not adhere. After the gold leaf is applied, the yellow glue is washed off, leaving the gold design behind. <br /> <br /> The man on the left is applying the yellow glue where the gold won't stick, and in between the two men is a tea pot with the glue applied in a negative design. The gold will only stick to the parts that are still black. The man on the right is applying gold leaf to a small bowl from the square stack of gold leaf sitting in front of him.
  • Women etching designs into vases at lacquer ware workshop, near Bagan, Myanmar
  • Boy etching designs into lacquer ware, , near Bagan, Myanmar
  • Woman etching designs into a vase at lacquer ware workshop, near Bagan, Myanmar<br /> <br /> Next time you see fine lacquer ware, you can appreciate the labour that went into producing it, as described below!<br /> <br /> Lacquer ware manufacturing originally came to Myanmar from China and it takes 5 to 7 months to make even the smallest item and up to a year to make larger items. Different materials are used to create the basic object to be covered with lacquer, including thin bamboo strips and horsehair that are coiled or woven into the shape that is finally coated with lacquer. Lacquer comes from the resin of a tree, Gluta usitata, that grows around the Bagan area of Myanmar, and it is harvested from the tree by tapping, in the same manner as rubber. When tapped, the sap is straw-coloured but quickly turns a glossy black.<br /> <br /> After the frame is made and bamboo wicker or horsehair has been woven around it, the first coating of lacquer is applied. The lacquer paint is applied by hand and the object is then left to dry for a week in an underground cellar. The object is then given a second coating of lacquer and left to dry for another week in the cellar. <br /> <br /> Then it is covered with a paste made from a mixture of pulverized buffalo bone, teak sawdust and lacquer and left to dry for another week. The object is then polished with pumice stone to remove rough surfaces and lacquer is applied again and it dries for another week. The object is polished again, both on the inside and outside, using a mixture of clay and stone. The polishing is done three times before the object is stored underground for one month. Then a long process of painting and drying begins. <br /> <br /> For the next seven weeks, a layer of lacquer is applied at one week intervals. The result is a shining black surface made even glossier by polishing with a buffalo chamois soaked in sesame oil. At this stage, traditional designs are etched onto the surface, as you see in this photo. Then a layer of colour is applied and the lacquer ware is left to dry for a week, then polished with rice husks, washed with water and painted with acacia glue to fix the colour. If another colour is required, more details are etched and then the object is coated with the second colour, left to dry for a week, washed and then fixed with acacia glue again. More etchings are made and a third colour is added, if desired, and the object is left to dry for a month. <br /> <br /> Then it is polished first with teakwood ash and water, and then with a piece of cotton cloth. It is washed and dried again for ten minutes in the sun and finally polished with a powder made from pulverized petrified wood. Finally, the object is painted once more on the inside with red lacquer, left to dry for one week and is ready for sale. <br /> <br /> For a photo of the process of applying gold leaf designs, and a description of this, see here: <a href="http://goo.gl/LZkcU">http://goo.gl/LZkcU</a>
  • 'D' is for dog.<br /> <br /> Village dog, New Bagan, Myanmar
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