Mon Tradition believes in Spirits

By: Kyae Goor

The farmers who live in many different places worshoip their spirits of landowner. Some farmers feed the spirits, who lookafter their land, with bananas, alchol, betel nut, betel leaf, snack and prawn. Then they pray for their land and paddys that are not to destory by insects. To pray like those, some farmers use the foods such as a quid of betel, a cigar, a banana, a quarter of coconut and a spoon of (liquid snack). After feeding them, not only cows and oxes eat the left –over foods but also thefarmers eat the foods because they believe that including them, all of their properties are escaped by many dangerous things if they have the left food.


Jack Fruit Snack make with sticky rice

Agriculture is the most important one for our Mon people and they always rely on it for their survival, so they have obsviously strong believe in the spirits, who are looking after their farms.

Feeding sprit custom appear not just nowaday.It decent from a long time and also wide- spread generation to generation .While the sprit are prayed , (jack fruit snack) which is one of Mon traditional snack ,is essential one .

Most of MON people are not only so reverent in religion, but also they believe in sprits, which come form the parents tradition. There are three kinds of Mon people in Mon nation and the first group are (Mon Dy ), who worship the coconut sprit,the second group is (Mon Da ) ,who worship (clothes sprits). And the third groups is (Mon Nya) and also they donate and believe the sprit of (Dong), is made by bamboo and put water and flower leaf in it.

There are many kinds of different sprits the people worships, such as home sprit, traditional sprit, village sprit, town sprit, coconut sprit, land and forest sprit. Respecting home sprit is a little different with others because just the sons have opporturities to inherit them in the family .If the daughter in the family are married with other man ,she has to follow her husband homesprit but they can’t be married if both of them are the same tradition sprit.

Especially, Mon people begin to bring their home sprit when they start to build their home and offer them with banana, rice, coconut and clothes as soon as they finished in building their home. For the coconut sprit, the people have to keep the cocont and the longyi, which is edge surrounded by yellow colour. The most important one is the peple have to shake and replace a new one if some one in the family suffer in sick ,but they have to ask a woman who is led in doing for the sprits and in feeding the foods –such as Mon snacks ,coconot and betel-nut .

For the village sprit, have to build a small place for them. The villager believe that some one make a mistake if there are something happen in the village and the people,who make the wrong, have to apologies to the village sprit.

Other believeing is saying to the sprit if they call on the other so that they can be protected any danger along their trip. For the clothes sprit, people have to prepare a long longyi, a pair of clothes, necklace, earing, and a ring which is made of white stone and red stone.All the things have to be changed if one thing is destoried.

For the (Dong) spirit, the flowers are needed to put in. Dong is made of bamboo and can put water in stead of using pot.It is also had to change new one ,if a person in the family happens some thing .Mostly ,using 5o or 60 coconuts ,1oo bananas,stickly rice ,rice,alcohol,chicken soup ,a live chicken ,a live fish,fried fish ,and papays for keeping (Dong) spiri

t.

The main reasons believing the spirts that the people believe that the sprits can protect in suffering desease,facing the big social problems economical problems.Some are because of decenting from their parents tratidions.The people always say that the sprits can help and save them if they respect and donate them with the things .