''Kundaung'' ( my, ကွမ်းတောင်, ;"betel leaf holder") is an

offertory The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...

commonly carried in Burmese celebrations, such as

shinbyu Shinbyu (; , also spelt shinpyu) is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony ( pabbajja) in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, referring to the celebrations marking the sāmaṇera (novitiate) monastic ordination of a boy under the age of ...

(novitiation) and ear-boring procession ceremonies. The bearers are known as ''kundaungkaing'' (ကွမ်းတောင်ကိုင်), which has the figurative meaning of "village belle." The modern ''kundaung'' is typically made as an ornamental tray with leaf-like protrusions, gilt with lacquer, goldleaf, or

glass mosaic In Myanmar culture, glass mosaic ( my, မှန်စီရွှေချ) is a traditional form of glasswork where pieces of glass are used to embellish decorative art, structures, and furniture. Glass mosaic is typically divided into two sub ...

. In

Upper Myanmar Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...

, several localities, including Butalin Township in

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...

, have preserved a tradition to make elaborate multi-tiered ''kundaung'', variously known as ''phetsein kundaung'' (ဖက်စိမ်းကွမ်းတောင်), ''myaphet kundaung'' (မြဖက်ကွမ်းတောင်), or ''myasein kundaung'' (မြစိမ်းကွမ်းတောင်), from tender

banana leaves The banana leaf is the leaf of the banana plant, which may produce up to 40 leaves in a growing cycle. The leaves have a wide range of applications because they are large, flexible, waterproof and decorative. They are used for cooking, wrapping ...

, flowers, and other ornamental plants, resembling a spired pagoda. These floral arrangements are similar to Thai and Laotian offertories, variously called '' krathong'' (กระทง), '' baisri'' (บายศรี) and ''pha khwan'' (ພາຂວັນ). This traditional craft is disappearing. Only virgin maidens whose mother and father are alive, are specially selected to carry these ''kundaung'' for such processions. Burmese writer

Khin Khin Htoo Khin Khin Htoo (, ; born 17 December 1965) is a Mandalay-based Myanmar National Literature Award winning writer. Her works are known for their coverage of the traditional Burmese culture, and beauty of Burmese people of Upper Myanmar. She is th ...

has featured the ''phetsein kundaung'' as the title of her short story collection, ''

Phet Sein Kun Taung Shwe Wuttu-To Mya Phet Sein Kun Taung Shwe Wuttu-to Mya ( my, ဖက်စိမ်းကွမ်းတောင် ရွှေဝတ္ထုတိုများ, ) is a 2003 collection of 15 short stories by Khin Khin Htoo. It won the Myanmar National Litera ...

'', as well as her novel ''Ma Ein Kan'' (မအိမ်ကံ).

References

{{reflist Burmese culture