20 October

The Siyin Chin community celebrated its traditional harvest festival, for the first time, yesterday in Yangon.

About 300 ethnic Siyin Chin gathered at the event at Hlawgaw Park.

“This is the first such event in Yangon. This event has been held to mark the harvest festival in Chin State,” said U Manh Kham Pon, the secretary of the Siyin Chin Association.

Siyin is one of the 35 tribes of Chin. About 5,000 Siyin Chin people are residing in Yangon, while over 10,000 are living across the country.

At the event, the Siyin Chin offered prayers and performed traditional dances and ate lunch together. The festival is aimed at strengthening the unity of the Siyin Chin people, not only in Siyin area, but also across the country, helping each other, and conserving the traditional heritage of the ethnic people, according to the event’s organizers.

Myint Maung