"Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another...includes systems of values and values are among the building blocks of culture."
Different countries around the world adopt their own cultures that make them unique from the rest. As I thought about the different countries I visited and their respective cultures, I found Myanmar of which i visited 9 years ago, an interesting country to share about.
Myanmar (formerly called Burma) is known to the world as the Golden Land. This is so because Myanmars love gold and as a result of that, gold is basically found everywhere in Myanmar from the pagoda to the monasteries as well as the accessories of nobles. In short, everywhere you turn to in Myanmar, everything seemed golden. It was an eye-opening sight for me!In terms of cultural aspects, Myanmar is primarily Buddhist-dominated which is why temples are essential there. A particular lesson that left a deep impression in me was the fact that every boy of Buddhism in the country has to enter the monastery for a short period of time before the age of twenty. In a traditional country like Myanmar, the monastery is the centre of cultural life. I remembered being brought to visit the monastery to have a feel of what their monkhood is all about (as shown in the picture below taken when I was there).
From the visit, I learnt that these boys learn the scriptures, chant prayers, had plain meals, go around collecting alms and many more. Through this experience of monkhood, it acts as a medium for these young boys to understand what the poor goes through so that they will learn to show empathy to them. Being a collectivist country, every boy in the country obeys and conforms to these regulations set by the government. This portrays the characteristics of a collectivist society, specifically conformity, readiness to be influenced by others as well as high interdependence. In addition to that, time orientation plays a role in the culture of monkhood as well, where the monks were taught that time is monochronic and they are required to be punctual for all their monastery lessons. In contray to that, Singapore has a totally different culture from that even though we are also a collectivist country. Because of the multi-racial and multi-religion society that we live in, we are not made to conform to a particular religion, rather we have our own freedom of choice of which religion we want to believe in. However, slightly similiar to that of Myanmar would be our Singapore's National Service where under the enlistment act, all eighteen year olds males have to serve the nation for two years. This is to create a sense of belonging to the country and the need to protect and love our nation. Just like how the Myanmar boys conform to the compulsory monkhood, these Singaporean males conform to serve their National Service.
Apart from that, the Myanmars believe strongly in their religion so much so that they have a Golden Rock in their country which is now part of their tourist atttraction. What they believe about this rock is that it brings good fortune to whoever who pastes the gold stickers on it. As a result of this belief, this rock is completely covered in golden in our present days. Due to the overwhelming reponse to it, the Golden Rock is beginning to be tilted to an angle which many said it will soon fall off the cliff.
Some photos taken when my family visited the Golden Rock:
So if you are interested and do not wish to miss the golden opportunity to this golden sight, visit Myanmar! (:
What's your call on culture? Are you a individualist or a collectivist? Tell me more about it! (:
An enlightening post indeed!
ReplyDeleteYou did a fantastic job on parallel comparison between the boys going through monkhood in Myanmar as well as the eighteen year old boys serving National Service (NS) in Singapore. Although both of them have different kinds of training methods, they serve to instill patriotism in the boys.
Good analysis done, and i can tell you enjoyed yourself there! Will check out Myanmar soon (:
Interesting to read about Myanmar/Burma, which I know next to nothing about!
ReplyDeleteI think it's also quite thought-provoking when you take a look at the collectivist/individualist label, especially here in Singapore where we seem to fall within the traditional Asian collectivist category, yet adopt many individualistic "Western" ideals. Recently I've been reading up on Russia as well, and they're another ambiguous place, filled with people who are apparently highly competitive, yet collectivist.
Hmm.
I believe that culture shapes our perceptions and ideas differently regarding the same issue, depending on whether we are from a individualistic or collectivist culture.
ReplyDeleteI am awed by the facts that you offered about Myanmar, how the young boys have to go through monkhood as the Myanmar government feels that this acts as a medium for these young boys to understand what the poor goes through and hence learn to show empathy for them.
However, I soon realise that Singaporean boys undergo a similar process under government regulations as well. This process is also known as compulsory national service at the age of eighteen. Nevertheless, the rational behind the process of monkhood is slightly different from the rational behind national service, which is to train a group of able-bodied males to be militarily ready in combat. Hence, like Myanmar, Singapore is a rather collectivist country as well.