General News
16 July, 2024
Keeping the Karen culture alive through a rich sense of tradition
Thousands of people across the Wimmera make our society richer through sharing their cultural tastes and traditions.
Among the most recognisable are members of the Karen community, well established in Horsham and Nhill.
Tracing their origins back to the Karen region in Myanmar (formerly Burma), hundreds have settled across the region, many arriving as displaced refugees.
Htoo Kaw Jah, today a citizen of Horsham and the first Karen leader in the area, spent 27 years of his life in a Thail refugee camp before emigrating to Australia.
He arrived in Australia with the aid of the United Nations to spend an additional two years in refugee accommodation.
In 2013, he and his family became the fourth Karen group to settle in Horsham.
"In Australia, we have a very strong sense of community," Mr Jah said.
“Here in this town we have the Horsham Karen community group, our main Victorian office is in Werribee and we have a big Australian group of our community called the Australian Karen Organisation.
“We have a community who loves to help each other and it is very united.”
There are now almost 200 Karen community members living in Horsham, and members present their culture, dance and cuisine at every opportunity.
“Every year we celebrate our New Year according to the Karen calendar,” Mr Jah said.
“Sometimes it comes in December and sometimes in January – every year there's a little bit of a difference."
Members of Karen communities in Horsham, Nhill, Bendigo and Werribee celebrated the arrival of their year of 2672 with talks and cultural acts at Horsham College, accompanied by mouthwatering foods, and the always popular "stick dance".
“The dances we've done are traditional," Yahminthu Shwetalee, 18, from Laharum, said.
“I perform different songs and different dances every year, so I'm getting better and better.
“I've learnt that from my teacher. She was the one who got me into it and introduced this traditional dance to me when I was younger.
“I didn't know what it was – I didn't have a clue – until my dance teacher came, but now I'm in love with it."
Eh Psawpaw Talee, 16, said the dances were a reminder of her original home.
“Since I grew up, I've been doing these traditional dances,” she said.
“It's really, really close to me. It just takes me back to where I came from. I knew about this dance from my mother, she used to do competitive dancing too.
“And just like others, when I was younger, I would go to the Karen New Year and watch other people dancing and be inspired. It's so much fun while we're doing it.”
Horsham Karen community second leader Kawdohsoe Nawnyo said such occasions were important to raise awareness of the community.
“Every year we celebrate with all the other communities from other places to bring everyone together to remember our past and to show our culture," he said.
“Everyone is invited to come and celebrate with us."
And he helps ensure the traditions are passed on through the generations.
“To encourage these young kids, first we talk to the parents, then they bring their kids here and then we teach them the dance,” he said.
“We tell them it's to keep the tradition alive."