RELIGION IN UPPER BURMA.
By Rev. Ola Hanson
[By the Rev. Ola Hanson, missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union.] AMONG the religions of Upper Burma, Buddhism would naturally claim the greatest number of adherents. All the Burmans—except such as have accepted Christianity, which is not a very large number—profess this form of faith, and conform at least to its outward forms and practices. Within a limited circle of the most advanced classes Buddhism may still exert something of its primitive spiritual influence; but the great bulk of Burmans look upon their religion as so many ceremonies to be observed, holidays to be kept, and feasts to be attended. In the less-favored districts the religion which has a real hold on the populace is nat, or spirit-worship. While professing faith in Buddha and his law, offerings are freely given and prayers as often made to these troublesome intruders into the domestic life and happiness. All the Shan tribes profess Buddhism, and are probably more bigoted and unshaken than the Burmans. Mission work among the Shans, having been in progress for a number of years, has given but small results. They are strong believers in the nats, to which they erect altars and offer prayers in connection with unbloody sacrifices. Buddhism has never been able to exterminate the original nat-worship, which goes back to the very beginning of Burmese history. Naturally the more backward races would cling the strongest to the old superstition; and, as a whole; the Shans are more of nat-worshipers than the Burmans. The large tribe known as the Palaung also adheres, in outward form, to Buddhism. The Palaungs, a few centuries ago, having driven out a race called by the Kachins "La People," settled among the mountains east of Irrawaddy, probably as far south as to the modern Lashou. They, in their turn, were driven back by the wild and warlike Kachins, and made their homes along the Shan valleys and on such mountain ranges as were somewhat distant from the new Kachin settlements. The Palaungs around Bhamo may be described as half Shans and half Kachins in customs and habits. They fear the nats almost as much as the Kachins, and set aside certain places as sacred to them. Being less civilized than the Shans, they form a natural connecting link between this race and the Kachins. With the Kachins we come down to the nat, or demon-worship, in its simple and primitive form. Unlike the nat-fearing Buddhists, they have no images, pagodas or temples. They offer bloody sacrifices, which at times bear strong resemblance to Brahman customs. They believe in omens, divinations and sorcery, and thus conform to the lower ideas of a large class of nominal Buddhists. Races or tribes closely related to the Kachins in religion, customs and traditions, but with languages of their own, are the Maru, Lashi, and Atsi. Certain branches of the Maru tribe offer, besides fowls, pigs, and cattle, which form the general sacrifices among all the Kachins, also dogs, and, at times, cats. No moral idea for good is discernible in this low form of faith. A Kachin fears the nats, and tries to propitiate their anger with the best means at his command. A race living along the border of China, known as the Yaw Yin, with a language and religion of its own, is, if possible, even on a lower scale of advancement than the Kachins.11They live in cave-like houses, and subsist mostly on corn (maize) and pork. They practise a simple form of ancestor-worship, offering, on special occasions, pigs or fowls to their deceased parents or grandparents. Their New Year's feast, which falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year, seems to be their only festal occasion. As a whole, we find the religious life on its lowest stages among all the races of Upper Burma. Between the Yaw Yin, whom even a Kachin looks down upon as a very low being, and the most advanced Buddhist, is a long step, to be sure. But the advancement from the highest form of Buddhism to the highest form of Christianity is a still longer and much more difficult step.—The Independent.