Local Burmese re-create homeland holiday

CARRBORO -- Hsa Moo's son Lu Lue, 9, doesn't have memories of Christmases in his parents' native Burma.

He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, so his mother and father, Carver Hla, have to tell him what it was like.

On Saturday, the family gathered with more than 100 other Burmese immigrants for an early Christmas celebration.

In recent years, the U.S. government has helped many move to the Triangle from refugee camps where they fled from the current government of Myanmar, formerly Burma. Those in Chapel Hill and Carrboro belong to the Karen ethnic group, and most are Christian.

Together Saturday they sang "Joy to the World" in their native tongue, Karen. Many wore traditional, hand-woven V-neck sleeveless shirts, striped for the men, with a delicate design like flowers for the women.

Some dressed as shepherds, wise men and angels for the Christmas pageant. Young men led songs from the auditorium stage with electric guitars, while young adults and children sang into microphones. After a Baptist worship service and nativity play, they shared a meal of chicken over rice.

The Christmas gathering was a shorter version of what many adults remember celebrating in small villages back home.

Bae Bay Wah, 42, said in the mountains where she lived villages took turns hosting celebrations in the days before Christmas.

Guests would walk a couple of hours to join in on the fun. They would arrive in the late afternoon, in time for a worship service often followed by a special midnight prayer service.

Church members would go from home to home singing songs and wishing all a Merry Christmas. Christians would give the carolers money, fruit or rice to share at the reception that would follow the Christmas service. Sometimes villagers would cook two or three pigs overnight to feed everyone who came.

It's hard to go door-to-door here, said her son-in-law, Lawla Moo, 28. His family thought about caroling in their Carrboro apartment complex but worried that some residents would not appreciate the noise.

In the villages, Christmas celebrations often included a day of games like volleyball or soccer and races in which participants had to jump like a frog or run backward. After the worship service in the evening, prizes would be awarded. That would be followed by a nativity play, funny skits and bands leading songs.

He remembers standing two trees cut from the forest in the middle of the village and stringing balloons in between them for the holiday. People would hang their small Christmas gifts on the tree.

Hsa Moo, 43, remembers putting a live tree in her village church. Small gifts like fruit, pumpkins and special breads were tagged for certain people and hung on the tree or placed near it. Then everyone would share their gifts of food at a meal.

Making adjustments

She, her husband and their three children have lived in the United States for three years and have adopted the American custom of having a small tree with lights in their home.

Hla, 54, said his best Christmases were in the jungle, where he and other families moved after resisting the current government. Those were the days before he knew his wife. The jungle offered both a beautiful quiet, he said, and the camaraderie of singing.

"When I stayed in the town, our Christmas, we only eat together and we have a Christmas pageant," he recalled. "In the jungle area, after the pageant, we have Christmas singing."

With the Christmas celebration already past for this year, Hla said his family had made plans to devote Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to what their children, ages 18, 11 and 9, most wanted to do.

That included a buffet dinner in a Chinese restaurant Monday night followed by shopping at stores like Target and Ross. At midnight, they planned to hold a family prayer service. Today's plans would be up to what the children wanted, with possibilities including going to Lake Jordan or driving to High Point to visit a cousin.

"It will be whatever the children want," he said.