Identification. While the name "Palaung" is Burmese in origin, the Palaungs call themselves "Ta-ang," along with several dialectal variants of that name. They are known as "Palong" as well as "Kunloi" (mountaineer) by the Shans. The name "Rumai" or "Humai" is occasionally applied to all Palaungs but actually refers specifically to one of their subgroups.

Location. The Palaungs are found in the Shan States of east central Myanmar (Burma) with the majority found in Taungpeng State (approximately 23° N and 97° E). They are also in the adjacent states of Hsipaw, North and South Hsenwi, Möngmit, and as far south as the Shan State of Kengtung. Palaungs are also reported in the southern part of Kachin State and in southwestern Yunnan, China. They occupy a region of ridges up to 2,000 meters, separated by narrow valleys. In addition to cultivated lands, there is some open grassland, but the upper elevations are mostly temperate forest. The climate is typical continental Southeast Asian monsoon, with rainy summers and dry winters.

Demography. While there is no available population estimate for Palaungs in Myanmar today, in 1931 the total Palaung population was estimated at 140,000.

Linguistic Affiliation. The precise linguistic classification of Palaung has not yet been determined; it is however agreed that the various dialects of the Palaung language belong to the Mon-Khmer Group in the Austroasiatic Family. In the literature the Palaung are often associated with the Wa, another northern upland Mon-Khmer group, and they may appear cited as a single group, the Palaung-Wa. There appears to be no close affiliation between them, however, and it is reported that the two groups do not recognize any affiliation

Palaung - History and Cultural Relations

The Palaungs probably preceded Shan and Kachin settlement of the east central and northeast region of Myanmar. During the nineteenth century Taungpeng, the political focus of the Palaungs, was marginal to the neighboring Shan principalities and its relationship to the Burmese state was even more marginal. Although there were tributary relations and trade with the Burmese, the greatest cultural influence on the Palaungs appears to have been that of the Shans. Although there are Burmese loanwords in Palaung, the Shan language is both the written language of the Palaung and the lingua franca not only between Palaungs and Shans, Kachins, and other neighbors, but also between Palaung dialect groups. The few existing legendary chronicles of the Palaung are written in Shan and most Palaung adult males speak some Shan. Because the most recent ethnographic descriptions based on field research among the Palaungs are now more than sixty years old, it is possible that there is currently an even greater degree of acculturation between the Palaungs and their more dominant neighbors. Given the lack of recent data, descriptions of their cultural patterns in this article should be regarded as referring to their traditional way of life; it would be conjecture to attempt to describe how their culture may have changed in the context of the modern Burmese state. However, since many small tribal groups in the world are conservative and make an overt effort to maintain their cultural distinctiveness, it may be that the Palaungs have changed relatively little in the past sixty years.

Palaung - Marriage and Family

Marriage. Villages are normally endogamous units in which polygyny is permitted, though rare. A man may not marry his father's sister's daughter nor the daughter of his own sister or brother. There is some indication that the preferred marriage is with a mother's brother's daughter. Courtship takes place at the woman's house, late at night, after her parents have gone to sleep. In the central Palaung area this takes place in the entrance room where one or more men may visit a woman to engage in conversation, which follows a stylized convention. In other areas the men must stand under the house and converse with the woman through cracks in the floor of her sleeping room. Sex relations are apparently uncommon. A man who fathers a child and refuses to marry the mother must pay a fine. If she refuses to reveal his identity, her father must pay a fine to the elders to appease the local tiger spirit. Parents usually learn the identity of a woman's suitors and may praise or criticize them, but more direct interference is not the norm. Engagements are entered into without explicitly informing parents or obtaining their permission. In the central Palaung area marriage is traditionally by elopement, whereas elsewhere elopement may occur only because of parental disapproval. The eloping couple may go to the house of an older male relative of the man's father while several days of marriage negotiations are carried out by two part-time specialists skilled in traditional rhetoric. The woman's family expects a sum of money from the man's family, but this is regarded as help toward the wedding meal provided by the bride's family rather than as bride-price. The wedding is formalized by a blessing of the elders, after which the woman is surrendered and her parents send with her a dowry of household goods. Residence is initially patrilocal and a widow may either remain in her husband's home or return to her father's.

Domestic Unit. Information is not precise, but the domestic unit is probably the nuclear family along with some semi-detached individuals such as an unmarried brother or widowed parent.

Socialization. Spirit worship and Buddhism are strong forces for socialization. Young children are cared for almost exclusively by their mothers. Older children enjoy considerable freedom while learning work tasks and are taught to regard work as a source of enjoyment. Specially chosen young adults teach children poetry and customs of courtship, and prepare them for the prüh ceremony, a preadult initiation occurring around 10 years of age. Childhood training emphasizes courteousness, Buddhist merit, knowledge of spirit forces, and the learning of a vast corpus of poetry, songs, and metaphorical phrases necessary for social interaction. Almost every Palaung village has a monastery compound that serves as the traditional school in which boys receive their few years of formal education.

Palaung - Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The basis of Palaung religion is belief in spirits, and their aid is constantly invoked. Buddhism has been incorporated into spirit worship with the Buddha regarded as a beneficent spirit. Orthodox Buddhism, with the training and functioning of monks and nuns, parallels but seldom overlaps the functions of spirit worship. Two forms of Theravada Buddhism are followed: the Burmese school, practiced by the northern Palaungs, and the Yuan or Shan school, practiced by all others. The latter is differentiated from the Burmese school by the existence of a series of grades among monks, each marked by ceremonies of increasing cost, which are born by the monk's relatives and godparents. There are two classes of spirit: the kar-bu, in people and animals, which survive death for about a week; and kar-nam, in plants and inanimate objects. The kar-bu of persons who have suffered violent deaths or who do not proceed along the road of death become malevolent kar-nam spirits. Some kar-bu become the pe-aet, which are reminiscent of European ghosts. Other supernaturals include two guardian spirits for each human; guardian spirits of the house, village, roads, gardens, etc.; and numerous ogres and others of Burmese derivation.

Religious Practitioners. Although Buddhism guides Palaung religious belief, monks have no dealings with the host of supernaturals or supernatural practices that pervade Palaung belief. Offerings to supernaturals are usually made by ordinary people, even in cases of illness. Identification of the spirit causing an illness or misfortune is made by a specialist, the hsa-ra, a combination of diviner and medical practitioner. The diviner's advice is also sought in matters such as naming a child or choosing a house site, and for his knowledge of amulets and incantations, which he sells to those seeking success in love or against enemies. He is likely also to be the local tattooer. The bre, a witch or wizard, is said to be able to possess the body of another or to assume the shape of a tiger. Attached to the court of Taungpeng is also an older man, known as the ta pleng (old man of the sky) who acts as intermediary in dealing with spirits.

Ceremonies. Major ceremonies are calendrical ones associated with Buddhism. In the central area there is a state spirit festival conducted every September by the ta-pleng. The people assemble and, following a meal for the elders and monks and scripture reading by the monks, the ta-pleng and his assistants summon all spirits, great and small, to receive offerings.

Arts. Poetry, both recited and used as song texts, is the most important Palaung art. Nearly any context is suitable for the use of poetry or poetic phrases, but courting poetry, love songs, wedding songs, tea-picking songs, and dirges are especially important. All songs are sung, apparently unaccompanied, to a single tune. Ensembles of drums, gongs, and cymbals perform at all ceremonial occasions. Circle dancing is also prominent. Decorative art includes embroidery, tattooing of the entire body except the head, decorative roof gables, and carved and decorated entrance-door frames.

Medicine. While most people know and use many simple remedies, illness is believed to be caused by spirits whose influence, in Buddhist belief, cannot be warded off without the accumulation of merit. Some illnesses, such as insanity, are regarded as spirit possession by another person. The affected person makes offerings to the responsible spirit and, if necessary, seeks the help of a hsa-ra, who delivers incantations and remedies of plant and animal derivation. There are also women who employ massage and charms as cures. In childbirth, the woman is attended by one or more married friends who have had normal deliveries. For about thirty days after birth, the mother and child remain in the sleeping room by the fire, which is tended by her husband. She observes dietary rules and is periodically caused to sweat, after which she is massaged by her friends.

Death and Afterlife. The soul has two parts: the kar-bu, or general animal spirit, composed of parts, some of which may leave the body during sleep, and the vin-yin, the intellect, which is the immortal part of a person. At death the kar-bu is thought to wander for about seven days seeking a new mother through whom it may be reincarnated. The idea of the karbu's wandering causes Palaungs to fear death. In cases of abnormal death, such as by violence, by lightning-strike, or in childbirth, burial takes place as soon as possible, without a coffin, in an isolated place. Occasionally monks, nuns, clan chiefs, headmen and their wives, or other notables who died normal deaths are cremated. Ordinary people are washed, dressed, and buried in a coffin in an unmarked grave no later than a day after death. Buddhist scriptures are read in the entrance room of the house for a week, food offerings are made to the Buddhist images of the monastery, and monks are presented uncooked rice. On the seventh day, a larger than usual amount of food is taken to the images and the spirit of the dead person is called upon to depart for the road of the dead and the afterlife.

Bibliography

Cameron, A. A. (1912). "A Note on the Palaungs of the Kodaung Hill Tracts of Momeik State." Appendix A in Census of India, 1911, 9, Pt. 1: i-xiii. Rangoon: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationery.

Maring, Joel M., and Ester G. Maring (1973). Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Burma. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.

Milne, Mary Lewis (Harper) (1924). The Home of the Eastern Clan: A Study of the Palaungs of the Shan States. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Milne, Mary Lewis (Harper) (1931). A Dictionary of English-Palaung and Palaung-English. 1st and 2nd pagination. Rangoon: Superintendent of Government Printing.

Musgrave, John K. (1964). "Palaungs." In Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia, edited by Frank M. LeBar, Gerald C. Hickey, and John K. Musgrave, 121-126. New Haven: HRAF Press.