San Francisco Frontiers - In war-split Myanmar 'spirit consorts' commune across divide

Drinking, dancing and swooning, the dazzling mediums communed with the 111 divine ghosts of ancient Burmese folk religion at Taungbyone Festival this week.

"If you truly believe in them, they do come to you," said 35-year-old "spirit consort" Shwe Moe Thae Kyaw Kyaw.

"The deeper you believe in them, the more your wishes will be fulfilled."

In recent years, Myanmar's civil war encroached on the riotous celebrations that draw dozens of practitioners from across the nation to the northern cusp of the central city of Mandalay.

But the frontlines are further away now, providing breathing space for an event many consider an unofficial Pride celebration in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.

Most of the mystics are transgender women or other marginalised LGBTQ minorities, placed centre stage in Taungbyone as thousands pay tribute to the powerful revered spirits they claim to embody.

Under the watch of stiff-mannered pro-government militias who still label the region a "black zone" marked by war, their all-colourful shamanic rituals are suffused with camp energy.

Drowning in gold jewellery, faces iridescent with make-up, they spiral in trances to feverish crescendos.

Boozy crowds hoot and lob roses, tucking wadded cash donations into the mediums' clothing and lit cigarettes in their lipsticked mouths as the spirits take hold.

"When they come to me, I feel particularly at peace and calm," said Shwe Moe Thae Kyaw Kyaw. "At that moment, things work very smoothly."

- 'A way back' -

Their self-declared partners are Burmese Nats: the ghosts of apocryphal ancient humans and spirits representing natural elements.

Stemming from animist belief, they are still worshipped in tandem with the majority Buddhist faith which arrived later in Myanmar.

They are considered akin to Christian saints, albeit with vengeful instincts if their needs go unmet.

Nat kadaws -- meaning "spirit consorts" or mediums -- are their ambassadors in the physical realm.

Nats are said to sway affairs as personal as the sale of a second-hand car or as sweeping as the civil war afflicting Myanmar's 50 million citizens.

"We lost everything: friends, home, a future," lamented one 35-year-old festival attendee, speaking anonymously for security reasons.

"I lost my way, that's why I came here -- to find a way back," he said.

The war was triggered by the military's 2021 coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Long-simmering insurgencies waged by ethnic minority armies boiled over, while new pro-democracy guerillas mobilised to challenge the military takeover.

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died violently across all sides since the coup, according to ACLED, an organisation monitoring media reports of conflict.

The war's proximity saw the festival drastically scaled back in 2024 and again in 2025, a year that also brought a magnitude-7.7 earthquake which killed nearly 4,000 people, mostly in Mandalay.

But grievances always promise to be addressed come festival time, said Tin Tin Aye, a vendor hawking woven plant headdresses worn by many attendees.

"Everyone prays for whatever they desire," said the 50-year-old. "No matter how upset they are, they feel joyful when they arrive."

- Spiritual medicine -

While fighting is more distant from Mandalay now, many Nats still have poignant wartime significance.

There are king Nats representing moral order, warrior Nats honoured for their valour or loyalty, and guardian Nats to protect the home.

Taungbyone Festival centres celebrations of two brother spirits thought to linger on locally after their execution by a king for failing to donate bricks to a pagoda he planned.

But there is also Min Kyawzwa, the guardian of drunkards and gamblers, feted by followers with donated of bottles of alcoholic spirits warmed tepid by the monsoon heat.

Medium Win Hlaing is often asked to call upon to link devotees with the spirit.

With his blessing, those who don't have their prayers answered at Taungbyone Festival may still find an escape from the vagaries of Myanmar.

"I connect people and Nats according to their needs," said 65-year-old Win Hlaing.

"Nats are like medicines, they each have their own power."

A.Evans--SFF