Ceremony of Fire Stepping (MIE NINN PWEL)

Friends:

This time, I would like to convey something out of the ordinary. It’s about Religious Believes… It was in April while I was during my short tour to my home town. I have come across with this Hindu shrine orbiting the town to receive the homage. When it comes to Hinduism, my town has a strong background about this religion. Even the official anthem of my town includes a paragraph about Hindu Shrines. So, we all are familiar with Hindu shrines since our childhood days… We do have lots of Hindu shrines town wide. But this vegetarian shrine from SHAN MA LEL SWEL quarter is the one. Once in a year, the shrine goes around the town surrounded by people who keep Sabbath for its auspicious month. People under Sabbath create a huge bonfire near the shrine and sit/stand on it (without any footwear and protection materials). In Burmese, we name it MIE NINN PWEL (translated as CEREMONY OF FIRE STEPPING).

While the shrine receives the homage around the town, the Hindus offer various types of fruits and vegetarian provisions. We do have lots of fanatic Hindus who invites the shrine to appear at their shelters believing that it will bring a huge good luck to them.

So people, I am offering this shrine to all of you believing to offer a colossal good luck throughout your life…