U Win Hlaing’s House. Privately arranged Pwe. December 4 2016, North Okkalapa Township, Yangon. Karen Costumed  Dancers for Karen New Year (Not Nats). Photo: Kit Young

Side view of Nat Figures on Hsaya U Win Hlaing’s altar. Notice the green bananas resting on slightly visible coconuts, vases of flowers, offerings of bowls of food, glasses of water that the Nat Celestials will “eat/drink” as the Nat Kadaws sniff them beforehand. (Smelling is the human symbol for Spirits eating/drinking). Photo: Kit Young

Gitameit Music Institute, Yangon, February 22, 2017 (auspicious day chosen by U Win Hlaing) – Hsaya U Win Hlaing’s Pwe hired to bless a new building at Gitameit. Workers setting up the space the night before. Bananas must be green, Coconuts must have a fresh stem attached. Photo: Kit Young

As Above.

(Same as above) Musicians setting up instruments of the hsaing waing ensemble – gilded drum circle with Pyinsa Rupa ( A mythical beast comprised of five animals) and suspended gongs below. Photo: Kit Young.

(Same as above) Night before the pwe, helpers start to arrange the altar and place Nat figures in their appropriate order/hierarchy with offerings at the base. Min Mahagiri Nat (Lord of the Nat Pantheons) with green shawl is at the middle and higher than the other figures.

(Same as above) Close up of green bananas and coconuts.

(Same as above) Front view of hsaing waing instruments. Drums of the kyauk lon bat set placed in back. Full profile view of the Pyinsa Rupa. Photo: Kit Young.

(Same as above) Golden Figure of Myin Pyu Shin Nat always riding horse, white in other carvings. Photo: Kit Young.

(Same as above) Shredded coconut (part of the menu for Celestials) is prepared for each Nat on plates. Photo: Kit Young.

(Same as above) Arranging the leaf/flower vases. In addition to the ornamental large leaves seen here on the right, roses with stems and leaves are added to sprays of Eugenia leaves (Thabyay Khet) which always have been used to bring good luck at Water Festival in Myanmar, to protect from accidents/crashes, to receive blessings from the Buddha and to both call and propitiate the Nat Celestials. Photo: Kit Young.

(Same as above but on the following day at the opening of the pwe)…an hour into the pwe where Hsaya U Win Hlaing in green as Popa Medaw – Queen and flower-eating Ogress of Mt. Popa. The woman standing in front of the instruments with back turned is one of the professional singers hired for the pwe. (The Nat Kadaws do not sing, nor does the Nat Htein – master of the troupe, director and lead Nat Kadaw medium narrates the order of the pwe, offers prayers to each Nat and briefly describes the historical crisis the human who became a Nat faced: torture, murder, execution, persecution, suffering or woe). More narratives about each Nat are embedded in song lyrics sung by the professional singers, accompanied by the hsaing waing. Photo: Kit Young.

(Pwe opening day) Nat Kadaw solo dancer in red costume is A Pyo Daw – male cross-dresser or female representing an unmarried woman supplicating the Buddha and all the Nats near the opening of the pwe. Photo: Kit Young.

(Pwe Opening Day) Hsaya U Win Hlaing, dressed in the costume of Min Mahagiri leads the other Nat Kadaw dancers in costume each in turn to receive blessings from the Nats. Photo: Kit Young.

(Pwe Opening Day) Hsaya U Win Hlaing as Ko Gyi Kyaw in Prince (min tha) costume. More often, Nat pwe professional singers are women. Here both a woman and man trade off during the day (the pwe started at 10am and finished at 6pm – a one day pwe. At a Nat kana – or a pwe on the street under a canopy – donors usually pay for three days of the pwe 9am – 7pm). Photo: Kit Young.

(Pwe Opening Day) Gitameit students and Dean Ne Myo Aung sit in the back of the hall to watch the Pwe. Photo: Kit Young.

(Pwe Opening Day) A Nat worshipper (member of the audience) takes huge swigs of whiskey enabling possession or ritually signifying possession, depending on the circumstances of the pwe. Photo: Kit Young.

(Botataung Pagoda Nat Pwe/Nat Kana) Hsaya U Win Hlaing’s Troupe at the perimeter of the Botataung Pagoda in downtown Yangon at the occasion of a festival celebrating Mya Nan Nwe a sainted women from Mogok (city of ruby mines in upper Myanmar) born in 1898 and who worshipped daily at Botataung. Worshippers – usually women – come from Thailand and India to pray to her and offer soy milk – purportedly her only food. Legend has raised her to status of a Nat. She only wore green and was assumed to be a reincarnation of the serpent guarding this old Mon Pagoda by the river. December 27, 2019. Children with Thanaka bark on their faces to keep cool with two Japanese visitors (“Thanaka”, a natural cosmetic and coolant for the skin). Photo: Kit Young.

(Botataung Pagoda) This Nat pwe (Nat kana) is held on the side of the road but with an entrance into a house so that food can be prepared, dancers can change, eat, use amenities, there are two female singers for the whole day. The donor that paid for this pwe asked that Hsaya U Win Hlaing hold it for 4 days as a special tribute on the birthday festivities of Mya Nan Nwe (d. 1956, aged 50), whom believers propitiate as a Nat. The gold sign above the hsaing waing is the name of the ensemble: “Kyae Lin Baut” (Star Shining Leaders) based in Yangon that Hsaya U Win Hlaing hires for his pwe engagements. Photo: Kit Young.

(Botataung Pagoda) Hsaya U Win Hlaing, this time in black and gold costume as Popa Medaw offers prayers and explanations. Later, as medium, he listens to individuals and donor patrons in the audience who come up and whisper to him what they want from the Nat. Off and on all day, audience members or patrons spontaneously stand up and enter into trance if called by the Nat. Photo: Kit Young.

(Botataung Pagoda) Hsaya U Win Hlaing tilts his head and addresses his comments to me (Kit Young) wishing me to be free of harm and calling on the Nats for my protection. Those are 5,000 ($4) and 1,000 (80cents) kyat notes pinned to his costume. Photo: Kit Young.

(Botataung Pagoda) Under the kana or temporary canopy supported by poles in an outdoor pwe things are stiflingly hot and physically crowded. Everyone carries hand fans and are forgiving of the crush of people. The tightly spaced gathering of patrons and anyone off the street is further intensified by the scents given off by food, incense, sweat, the euphoria of dancing, those who trance, all supported by exciting abrupt accelerations of drum tempos/syncopations. The incredibly loud sound system of the already loud hsaing waing instruments and heavily amplified voices magnify the excitement of rhythm, movement and trance. Here, older participants watch from the side either sitting on plastic chairs or standing cheek to jowl. Hsaya U Win Hlaing now performing as the Naga Min Gyi Zeya Min or the Serpent King. Photo: Kit Young.

Mount Popa, Site of Taunbyone. Image: Wikimedia Commons (image in the public domain)