Happy Karen New Year

This past weekend we celebrated Karen New Year with hundreds of Karen people in Amarillo. While we in the USA recently celebrated the start to the year 2020, the Karen people (from Burma) are celebrating the year 2759 according to their traditional calendar. We enjoyed dances and music from two Buddhist temples, as well as several choir performances from local Karen Christian congregations. We particularly enjoyed seeing the colorful traditional clothing, as well as several traditional instruments, including the Nar Dain (harp), Thaunt Tun (violin), Pi Par (pipe), and the Bin (drum). We also appreciated the fact that leaders took the time to recount their own history with lessons and games. What a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the Karen people!