Scent of a nation
Writer:
Zaw Win Chit
A girl with thanakha on her cheeks stands near her mother at a newspaper wholesale market in Yangon. (Photo - REUTERS)
Since
ancient times, Myanmar people have been rubbing thanakha paste on their
faces as an effective shield against the sun’s harmful rays. The yellow
facial cream produced from ground thanakha bark is a much-touted beauty
secret deeply ingrained in the Myanmar culture. Men also wear it quite
unconsciously.
Thanakha trees can be found in places
across Myanmar including Shwebo in Ayeyawady Region, Monywa and Wuntho
in Sagaing Region, Pakokku, Yesagyo, Taungtwingyi, and Myaing in Magway
Region, Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region, Hsipaw and Lashio in Shan
State, Pyinmana in the central plains, and Taungoo.
The quality of thanakha varies according
to the area where it comes from. Despite the combined popularity of
Shwebo and Shinmataung thanakha from Yesagyo, the latter has attracted a
fanatical following among the general public ever since the locals
around Shinma Mountain introduced thanakha to their gift-giving ritual
that over time grew into a national obsession.
“Shinmataung thanakha is the name of
thanakha trees from Shinma Mountain in Pakokku Township. Now thanakha is
commercially cultivated at the foothills of Shinma Mountain instead of
sesame that turned out only 20 or 25 bags per acre,” said villager Mya
Thin from the Myaing area, Pakokku Township who ran a thanakha stall at
the Shwesandaw Pagoda Festival in Taungoo.
A stall at the Shwesandaw Pagoda Festival in Taungoo, Bago Region, specialises in Shinmataung thanakha. (Photo - EMG)
Nowadays Shinmataung thanakha has become
more popular than Shwebo thanakha thanks to its much-prized lingering
heady scent in contrast to the latter’s fleeting whiff of happiness.
In Myanmar, cheap up-country-style
thanakha products flood the pagoda-festival markets all year round.
Thanakha sellers are known as the first to set up shop and the last to
pack up. Brisk business is reported mostly on the first and the last day
of the festival when the products are offered at a discount. Yet
choosing the right thanakha can be tricky. Even to the trained eye, it’s
hard to distinguish between the real and the fake products on sale at
these religious festivals.
“If customers want the real Shinmataung
thanakha, supply will never catch up with demand because the farmland in
Shinma Mountain is so small. But cheaper thanakha products are readily
available, the kind that’s been dumbed down with cheap thanakha
varieties going into mix for what’s touted as the real Shinmataung
thanakha. Our regular customers will only get the real deal though. You
know, CP chicken always tastes differently from free-range chicken. The
same is true with Shinmataung thanakha,” said owner of Mya Myint Moh
thanakha shop.
Shinmataung thanakha is always in demand
because of its organic cultivation. With annual precipitation of
between 20 and 40 inches, Pakokku is ideal for Shinmataung thanakha
farming. The plantations adopt the no-pesticides approach that organic
farming demands though some don’t advertise the fact. Weeds are always
kept under control. Naturally grown thanakha trees produce the best
thanakha characterised by its thick powdery texture with a rich, fresh
fragrance.
Scented thanakha products in modern packaging. (Photo - NATION)
“Shinmataung thanakha is cool in the
summer and warm in the winter. The thanakha powder is mixed with water
before the paste is applied [on the face and body] so it’s cool when you
rub it on the face. It’s very good for health,” said the owner of Mya
Myint Moh thanakha shop.
According to thanakha shop owners, the
facial cream has become too commercialised in recent years with some
unscrupulous foreign companies bent on registering names of thanakha
varieties as their own trademarks.
“We held a meeting on this issue in
Pakokku at the end of last year. If they get the trademark, they will
try to control thanakha farmers and traders like us. That means we won’t
be able to sell Shinmataung thanakha freely at festivals and pagoda
festivals like we do now. They will try to impose restrictions on us and
bar us from selling it. We won’t accept a foreign country trying to
register trademarks based on thanakha names like ‘Shinmataung’,” said a
thanakha shop owner.
To keep thanakha as part of Myanmar’s
national heritage as long as possible, farmers in Shinma Mountain are up
in arms over the possibility that a foreign company is exploiting the
popularity of Shinmataung thanakha for their own gain.
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