Laos
Dos
Greet each other with a prayer-like gesture called nop
A younger person or people of lower status will nop their elder or social superior.
The western customs of shaking hands has become more common in recent years though a smile and a slight bow of the head is still considered.
Remove shoes when entering temples and somebody’s home.
Don’ts
Back slapping
Public displays on affection
Shouting
Gesticulation
Touching someone’s head
Pointing at people or things with feet
Do you think you can go to Laos?
As the Lao has dos and don’ts in their culture so as the Christians. We have a new culture to develop “Christ Culture” our Identity in Christ
What if your parents are the BARRIER?
One way or another when you have changed your belief your past culture and the people that you practice the culture with will be affected. What if the people that will be affected are your parents?
Last week, our professor, Ptr. Ronald Macam in Christianity and Culture gave us a true to life situation and asked us what we would do about it.
The situation is…
Vuthy is a newly converted Christian in Cambodia through his Christian supervisor in a company they both worked with. He learned that offering incense oil and candles is similar to offering to demons. He stopped doing it. But his parents took it as a rebellion to their authority. They accused the Christian supervisor and Christianity as a whole as destroying Cambodian family and culture. How would you respond to this issue as a Christian witness to these people?
From this, I realized how important the culture and family custom is to a Cambodian family.
My opinion is that he should inform his parents about his new belief and the decision he had made. He can explain to his parents that he will still follow their family customs as long as it is not against the Bible which is the foundation of his new belief.
If his parents will still get angry then we should go back to the Old Testament times where the people of God are offering different kinds of offering to God in the altar of incense. If Vuthy will violate the commandment to Honor his parents then my opinion is that as a Christian he can still offer incense oil and candles to God. Then he should live his life as a transformed man and continue to pray for his parents so that one day his parents will realize the God in him. They too will be hungry for his God.
How about you? What do you think is the best thing to do? What would you do? You never know this may happen anytime.
Feel free to comment on this.
-Constance Jane Tupe
Last week, our professor, Ptr. Ronald Macam in Christianity and Culture gave us a true to life situation and asked us what we would do about it.
The situation is…
Vuthy is a newly converted Christian in Cambodia through his Christian supervisor in a company they both worked with. He learned that offering incense oil and candles is similar to offering to demons. He stopped doing it. But his parents took it as a rebellion to their authority. They accused the Christian supervisor and Christianity as a whole as destroying Cambodian family and culture. How would you respond to this issue as a Christian witness to these people?
From this, I realized how important the culture and family custom is to a Cambodian family.
My opinion is that he should inform his parents about his new belief and the decision he had made. He can explain to his parents that he will still follow their family customs as long as it is not against the Bible which is the foundation of his new belief.
If his parents will still get angry then we should go back to the Old Testament times where the people of God are offering different kinds of offering to God in the altar of incense. If Vuthy will violate the commandment to Honor his parents then my opinion is that as a Christian he can still offer incense oil and candles to God. Then he should live his life as a transformed man and continue to pray for his parents so that one day his parents will realize the God in him. They too will be hungry for his God.
How about you? What do you think is the best thing to do? What would you do? You never know this may happen anytime.
Feel free to comment on this.
-Constance Jane Tupe
Full House?? no! it's Full Home!
Culture is a great barrier in sharing the Gospel. To be able to share the gospel freely we must unlock the barrier and go the extra mile.
One way to unlock the barrier is to know about their family.
To most ASIAN people Family is Very Important;It is a priority. By understanding each a group of people's priority and most valued possession we can go the first step.
Family Starts by Unification of a man and a woman.
TRIVIA:
In our Inter-Cultural Studies class last Tuesday I've learned that in Myanmar there are no Family names/ Last names. Most interestingly, when a woman gets married her name is not changed at all. She retains the name she has before getting married.
I never thought there would be a place where last name is not used. That's what's cool about learning other cultures you find out new and interesting things.
INSIDE THE HOME OF A BUILT FAMILY:
Like in the Philippines, the people of Myanmar address a person according to his or her age. The names of the older people are prefixed with U for Mr. (pronouced as OO) and Daw for Ms. If the person is a young adult is addressed by the honorific Ma(for females) and the Ko (for Males). A child is referred as Maung (for males) and Ma (for females),(http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/myanmar-naming-system.htm).
In a Myanmar family Love and respect, rights and responsibilities are the foundation other than religion. One basic element of a Myanmar family is the Love and humor which knits the family together. The Myanmar people look on the brighter side of life and enjoy it in their family relationships.
WHY a FULL HOME? Because...
The parents of Myanmar are not very strict to their children. When the child or baby cries they pick the baby right away. Even if the parents are lenient to their children when the child starts going to school they do not neglect to teach them discipline and morality. Despite the discipline, love and laughter is not neglected to keep the family bonded together. The children respects the father very much that when he gets home they welcome him with great joy and does anything to help their father get dressed and relax.
But Wait..There's MOre...
In their evening meals they eat together at the round table. The father gets the first choice of morsel but because they give out to each other He usually lets the children get their share first. The parents eat sparingly for their children. The laughter is never neglected while dining at the table.
Is it true that they don't abuse or punish their children? What about the desolate people?
There are some forms of physical punishments but it is very rare. If ever the children are abused physically or mentally the neighbors will see to it that it doesn't happen too often. As it is said in the website http://myanmartravelinformation.com/mti-myanmar-culture/family.htm , "There may be tears but there is also humour and affection".
A FULL HOUSE? NO! A FULL HOME BECAUSE IT IS FILLED WITH LOVE AND LAUGHTER!
One way to unlock the barrier is to know about their family.
To most ASIAN people Family is Very Important;It is a priority. By understanding each a group of people's priority and most valued possession we can go the first step.
Family Starts by Unification of a man and a woman.
TRIVIA:
In our Inter-Cultural Studies class last Tuesday I've learned that in Myanmar there are no Family names/ Last names. Most interestingly, when a woman gets married her name is not changed at all. She retains the name she has before getting married.
I never thought there would be a place where last name is not used. That's what's cool about learning other cultures you find out new and interesting things.
INSIDE THE HOME OF A BUILT FAMILY:
Like in the Philippines, the people of Myanmar address a person according to his or her age. The names of the older people are prefixed with U for Mr. (pronouced as OO) and Daw for Ms. If the person is a young adult is addressed by the honorific Ma(for females) and the Ko (for Males). A child is referred as Maung (for males) and Ma (for females),(http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar-culture/myanmar-naming-system.htm).
In a Myanmar family Love and respect, rights and responsibilities are the foundation other than religion. One basic element of a Myanmar family is the Love and humor which knits the family together. The Myanmar people look on the brighter side of life and enjoy it in their family relationships.
WHY a FULL HOME? Because...
The parents of Myanmar are not very strict to their children. When the child or baby cries they pick the baby right away. Even if the parents are lenient to their children when the child starts going to school they do not neglect to teach them discipline and morality. Despite the discipline, love and laughter is not neglected to keep the family bonded together. The children respects the father very much that when he gets home they welcome him with great joy and does anything to help their father get dressed and relax.
But Wait..There's MOre...
In their evening meals they eat together at the round table. The father gets the first choice of morsel but because they give out to each other He usually lets the children get their share first. The parents eat sparingly for their children. The laughter is never neglected while dining at the table.
Is it true that they don't abuse or punish their children? What about the desolate people?
There are some forms of physical punishments but it is very rare. If ever the children are abused physically or mentally the neighbors will see to it that it doesn't happen too often. As it is said in the website http://myanmartravelinformation.com/mti-myanmar-culture/family.htm , "There may be tears but there is also humour and affection".
A FULL HOUSE? NO! A FULL HOME BECAUSE IT IS FILLED WITH LOVE AND LAUGHTER!
Engaging the Culture, Changing the World for Christ
We were called to spread the gospel into all the world and the common hard part of it is that we all have different cultures. Wherever we go we need to adjust to the culture of the group of people we want to minister to. Jesus left us with the commission to go into all the world because He knows we can fight the barriers of Culture.
Culture is defined in www.dictionary.com as the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group; it is the way of life within a soceity.
It is IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS TO KNOW THE CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE THEY ARE CALLED TO REACH!
One Part of the Culture or way of life is how they name their children.
Did you know that in Myanmar people are named after the day they were born together with a second name with a meaning.
I learned this in my Intercultural Studies subject on People's of the World.
What Day of the Week Were you born? Check out what character you want from the day you were born and connect it with the name of which meaning you want.
Example: pha+hla . There you have your Myanmar name.
Day Included Characters
Sunday - ah, oh, u (oo), ok
Monday - ka, kha, ga, nga
Tuesday - sa, za, nya
Wednesday - wa, la, ya, ra
Thursday - pa, pha, ba, ma
Friday - tha, ha
Saturday - ta, hta, da, na
Myanmar Names -Meaning
aung -succeed
aye -cool
chit -love
cho -sweet
hla -beautiful
hlaing -plenty
htay -rich
htet -sharp
htin -appear
htun -succeed
htut -apex
htway, htwe -youngest
khin -friendly
khine -firm
kyaw famous, -fry
kyi -clear
kyine smell -sweet
kywe -rich
lwin -outstanding
maung brother, -mister
moe -rain
mya -emerald
myaing, myine -forest
myat -better
myint -high
myo -relative
naing -win
nanda -river
nyein -quiet
nyunt -blossom
ohnmar -mad
phyu -white
sanda, sandi -moon
sein -diamond
shein -reflection
shway, thiri, shwe, theingi -gold
soe -dominate
than -million
thant -clean
thaung -10 thousand
thein -100 thousand
thet -calm
thida -Water
thura, thurein, thuya -Sun
Reach the Unreached by creating similiraties with them.
Watch out for more blogs..Thanks:)
Culture is defined in www.dictionary.com as the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group; it is the way of life within a soceity.
It is IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS TO KNOW THE CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE THEY ARE CALLED TO REACH!
One Part of the Culture or way of life is how they name their children.
Did you know that in Myanmar people are named after the day they were born together with a second name with a meaning.
I learned this in my Intercultural Studies subject on People's of the World.
What Day of the Week Were you born? Check out what character you want from the day you were born and connect it with the name of which meaning you want.
Example: pha+hla . There you have your Myanmar name.
Day Included Characters
Sunday - ah, oh, u (oo), ok
Monday - ka, kha, ga, nga
Tuesday - sa, za, nya
Wednesday - wa, la, ya, ra
Thursday - pa, pha, ba, ma
Friday - tha, ha
Saturday - ta, hta, da, na
Myanmar Names -Meaning
aung -succeed
aye -cool
chit -love
cho -sweet
hla -beautiful
hlaing -plenty
htay -rich
htet -sharp
htin -appear
htun -succeed
htut -apex
htway, htwe -youngest
khin -friendly
khine -firm
kyaw famous, -fry
kyi -clear
kyine smell -sweet
kywe -rich
lwin -outstanding
maung brother, -mister
moe -rain
mya -emerald
myaing, myine -forest
myat -better
myint -high
myo -relative
naing -win
nanda -river
nyein -quiet
nyunt -blossom
ohnmar -mad
phyu -white
sanda, sandi -moon
sein -diamond
shein -reflection
shway, thiri, shwe, theingi -gold
soe -dominate
than -million
thant -clean
thaung -10 thousand
thein -100 thousand
thet -calm
thida -Water
thura, thurein, thuya -Sun
Reach the Unreached by creating similiraties with them.
Watch out for more blogs..Thanks:)
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