A PORTRAIT OF A WONDERFUL PEOPLE: THE PA-OH

*** The National Race of Pa.Oh ***

Our country s composed by 7 states and 7 divisions. There are over 100 ethnic groups are Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon, Burmar, Rakhine and Shan. All national races are living altogether unity in our country.

Let me tell all readers about some information of Pa.Oh people, “Pa” means the egg explodes and “Oh” means remove the cover. So “Pa.Oh” means the egg explodes and removes the cover.

*** The places of their living ***

Most of Pa.Oh people live in Southern Shan State. Some live in lower Myanmar such as Thaton, Delta, Sittaung River and the border area of Kayah State. The population of Pa.Oh people is about 4 millions in our country.


*** Descendent ***

According the history, they are derived from “Tibeto Burma group” earlier than Shans and Myanmar.

*** Tradition and Culture ***

We can see our tradition and culture only in the high land Pa.Oh. They are living on agriculture. They cultivate rice, wheat, potatoes, peanut, vegetable, coffee, garlic, sunflower, plane tea, corn and cheroot leaf. They have a lot of orchards which grow lemons, pine-apple, strawberries, oranges, pear and other fruits. They export all over the country. 30% of Pa.Oh populations live in Shan plateau. Because of the cold weather and living in the mountain area, they chose their costume in black color as it can absorb the heat. There are two ethnic groups who are the same color with Pa.Oh. They are Taungyoe and Lishaw, but different in Styles.



*** Naming System ***

Pa.Oh’s naming system is interesting. The boys and the men use “Khun” and the girls and the women use, “Nang” as a prefix. “Khun” means “King” and “Nang” means “Princess”.

*** Literature ***

They have their own Language, alphabet and literature with many vowels and intonations. In Pa.Oh literature, there are six kinds of intonations. For example, in Myanmar, the intonations are “Ka”, “Kar”, “Karr”. In Pa.Oh, the intonations are (“Ka”, “Kar”), (“Kar”, “Karr”), (“Karr”, “Karrr”). According these intonations, they make dialect. Although they have their own literature, it deteriorated with the failure of King Manuha.