Homage Ceremony and Food Day

Part of my school's mission is to honor all cultures, but there is a special emphasis placed on Myanmar traditions since most of our students are local. In October, Buddhists here celebrate Homage Day. It's a time to thank teachers and parents for educating you and officially apologize for any mistakes you have made. Students told me that they celebrate with parents and grandparents and that after paying homage, they eat a nice meal together.

Homage Day ended up being the day before our Fall Break. We had a half day, with a special assembly scheduled. Students wear the traditional fabric, or longyi, and teachers do too. It's kind of like a sarong and you tie it differently depending on if you are a man or woman. Many men wear their longyis with t-shirts, but for this kind of event, a button down is typically paired with the men's version (which is plaid or a solid color; not as elaborate as the female longyis). The women wear a blouse, in a contrasting or matching fabric pattern. The women's clothes pay a great deal of attention to details and embellishments like beads, rhinestones and lace are common.

One neat thing about Myanmar is that the traditional dress still is the dress for most people. Though you can see jeans and trends from the west on the street, a significant portion of society still dons the classic longyi.

My colleague and I pose in our outfits.

Complete with velvet sandals.

The assembly was like any school assembly; we crowded into the gym and there were different speakers and acts. Much of the ceremony did take place in the Myanmar language. It was quite an interesting event to observe; the students even turned and bowed to the teachers at one point. If you'd like to take it in next year, mark your calendar for mid-October!

Student wait for homage ceremony to begin.

Myanmar studies students perform traditional dance.

A pop star visits.

At the end, everyone mingles over lunch and then says goodbye before break. I rushed to the airport with a few other colleagues who were also flying out that afternoon. Then, I spent my time off in Thailand, but you already know about that from a previous blog...

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Another event in October is food day. This is also an opportunity for students to share their cultures. While most of the food is from Myanmar, some of our Korean families also provided signature dishes. The mountains of food are prepared and served by parents. 

Two moms dish up lahpet.

Lahpet is one of my favorite Myanmar dishes. It's made with fermented green tea leaves (which are a great source of anti-oxidants and the ladies also inform me that it promotes clear skin) and then mixed with fried nuts/beans, ginger and sometimes tomato, cucumber and dried shrimp. I'm not wild about the dried shrimp, though there are many dried seafoods here, but I like all the other varieties of this salad. It gives you a little  caffeine kick, too!

Close up of lahpet.

The parents were serious about feeding the whole school! This was just one of many stands. There were rice noodles, meats, mohinga (typical rice noodle soup) and lots of other sweets!

Looking out at food day.

Dessert - sweet sticky rice.

Carbs definitely play a big role in the traditional dishes here, but there are lots of veggie and meat options, too. Come visit and you can even try roasted cockroaches! There were none of these at food day, but I've seen them at the market. They are supposed to be a delicacy. 

And on that note, I'll sign off!

What I'm Reading: Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut and Heartless Forest: An Anthology of Burmese Women Writers. I'm still wading my way through lots of articles for my online course, currently working on the book The Art and Science of Teaching. 

What I'm Listening to: All my favorite albums from 2014. I'm trying to compile a playlist of my top 12 tracks from this year...it's not easy! What would you put on yours?