Burmese Dance - Mount Popa's Guardian Spirits Dance

Mount Popa's Guardian Spirits Dance

According to Burmese folklore (but probably based on quasi-historical facts), Me Wunna, a beautiful blonde princess was a sister of the king of Thaton in lower Burma. Estranged from her brother, she refused betrothal to a royal descendent and lived in exile and alone in the forests of Mount Popa. As a devout Buddhist she abstained from eating meat and lived solely on flowers and fruits. She generally wore the mask of a demon to frighten away foes and friends alike. Thus she was reputed to be a flower-eating demon.

Later she fell in love with a royal dispatcher of fantastic physique, and begot two able sons with him. Unfortunately, her spouse was then executed for being derelict in fetching flowers from the mount. As a result, he became a nat (spirit).

Me Wunna's two sons, when they grew up, became distinguished heroes in the Royal Army. Unfortunately they fell victim to an intrigue, were executed for pretense, and became transformed into the two famous Spirits, the "Brother Nats" of Taungbyone.

However that was not the end of it. The bad tidings of her sons’ untimely deaths caused Me Wunna to die of heartbreak. So she became a nat as well and became duly enshrined at Mt. Popa, where she became "Super-Exalted" to supreme power in the Realm of the Nats.

The dancer, clad traditionally in regal apparel of green color, impersonates the Spirit. On her head is perched the mask of a demon. In her hands, she holds two quills of a peacock's tail, the symbol of the sun, in order to banish Darkness (the evil element). She dances as an apparition with grace and subtlety.