Sa Lin Gone Village

Yesagyo Township

Magwe Division

03.07.13

If you mention Shin ma daung to a Myanmar they will know that this is a hill where most of the best Thanaka trees grow - in Magwe Division in the dry heart of the country. Some is grown in Shwebo in Sagaing Division but, so they say, the perfume is not as good. Thanaka is vital for Myanmar beauty treatment: It is deemed an attractive make-up. It gives protection from the sun, preserves fair complexions and acts as an insect repellent. It is worn by most women, some children and even some men.

The tree is propagated from seed and though drought-tolerant as a mature tree, it does need to be watered for its first four months either by the farmer or by the monsoon that pours during August and September. Then the sapling needs little care but annual weeding and ploughing to aerate the soil. In the tree’s second year, if it has grown tall and gangling, it will need staking and roping. If the trunk is thin, then branches are cut to thicken it up. Nothing is wasted - those branches are woven into fences. When the tree is six or seven years, mature branches are cut and sold in short lengths for the purchaser to grind on a grinding stone with a little water.

In the village, some jobs, like pruning Tanaka, are done only at certain times of the year. However, an all-year round occupation is making incense sticks. It brings in little income for the amount of work involved, but this is just about the only way for villagers to make any cash.  

Daw Ahone Yin in Sa Lin Gone village near Pakokku, was sitting on the floor beside a small, but complicated wooden machine. First, she picked up slivers of bamboo that she bought on the market. She dunked the bundle in pink dye, pulled it out and, one by one, started the treatment. From a log, she scraped out a small amount of what looked like soil, but was the white or yellow ground-up insides of trees. Thanaka was always used in the past. Now in some areas they use Tamarind. In areas where both Thanaka and Tamarind are in short supply, other tree innards are used.

Next, onto a strip of plastic in the machine, Daw Ahone Yin dexterously sprinkled the ‘mud’, pulled a handle and an incense stick joined others in a pile, where they would dry gradually. Twice a week, a truck arrives and Daw Ahone Yin will receive 400 kyat (40 cents) for each bundle of 200 pieces. The truck goes on to town carrying the sticks, which are then impregnated with perfume, packed into cellophane and sent to shops or market stalls all over Myanmar. The incense sticks are for paying tribute to the Buddha and for him to enjoy the perfume that rises once these are lit.