Hundreds of Burma’s minority ethnic Kachin Christians are into four-day long celebrations of Christmas and the golden jubilee of the founding of their quarter in Kachin State’s capital Myitkyina, said local people.

People in Du Kahtawng, one of the main Kachin quarters in Myitkyina are observing the 50th anniversary of the founding of their quarter and Christmas simultaneously as of December 21 (Monday).  The celebrations will conclude on December 24 (Thursday), said residents.

The quarter’s Baptist and Roman Catholic Churches are jointly conducting the ceremony. Hundreds are participating in the celebrations. The venue is the compound of the No. 5 government middle school in the quarter, according to those attending.

The inaugural Kachin cultural Manau dance programme started yesterday and will be concluded tomorrow afternoon, said the officials organizing the ceremony.

Elders of Du Kahtawng, also called Du Mare (Du means officer and Mare or Kahtawng means quarter), said the quarter was founded by several Kachin families, mainly by government civil employees in 1959. Now it is home to over 3,000 people.

Du Kahtawng is well-known as one of the most developed Kachin quarters in Kachin State. This is because most residents in the quarters are well-educated and are middle class.  The Baptists and Catholics are in the majority.

Unfortunately, the popularity of the quarter and its fame has declined because of the recent actions of the quarter’s senior Baptist and Roman Catholic Church leaders. They accepted gifts such as landline telephones, cellular phones, small cash donation and GSM mobile phones from the visiting junta’s Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw. In turn they promised to approve the junta-drafted new constitution in the meeting with the Minister in the quarter on February 23, 2008.

The two main church leaders were criticized by their followers and Kachin people for giving special Kachin traditional food baskets called “Shat Lit” in Kachin by each church to Minister Brig-Gen Thein Zaw.  

Kachin churches see the repressive Burmese military junta as Satan in keeping with the Christian Bible and feel the churches should not support the regime, said local church sources.

Meanwhile, Thanksgiving and Christmas are being widely celebrated in different Kachin churches across Kachin State since December 1. Christmas is also widely celebrated in government schools, said local Church sources.