The Karen People

The Karen People
The traditional homeland of the Karen people is Burma (also called Myanmar). In Burma, the Karen people primarily reside in Kayin State, located in the southern and southeastern part of the country. They are the second largest ethnic population in the country comprising of 6-7 million in population.

The Karen Language
The Karen people have three main languages: S'ghaw (pronounced Skaw) Karen, Eastern Pwo Karen, and Western Pwo Karen. S’ghaw Karen is the most commonly spoken and understood. The Karen languages are members of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The Karen languages are almost unique among the Tibeto-Burman languages in having a subject–verb–object word order; other than Karen and Bai, Tibeto-Burman languages typically feature a subject–object–verb order. This anomaly is likely due to the influence of neighbouring Mon and Tai languages. Because Burmese is the language of the ruling military party, Karen people may be uncomfortable with a Burmese interpreter/translator.

Karen in Minnesota
Karen refugees, who fled oppression from the Burmese government, began arriving in Minnesota in the early 2000s, with large numbers arriving starting in 2005. Today more than 10,000 people of Karen descent live in Minnesota. St. Paul is home to the largest Karen community in the U.S. The Burmese American population is: Relatively young, with 64 percent under the age of 40 Largely first-generation American; 78 percent of Burmese-Americans are foreign born According to a Wilder study, 80 percent of Karen reported they speak English “only a little bit” or “not at all.”

Karen Celebrations



• Karen Revolution Day is held on January 31 and commemorates the beginning of the Karen uprising on January 31, 1949. In Burma, the event features a military parade along with dancing and speeches.
  
  
• Karen National Day is held on February 11 and commemorates the demonstration on February 11, 1948 when Karen people demanded their own homeland. This event also involves a military parade when celebrated in Burma.
  
  
• Buddhist New Year/Water Festival is celebrated in mid-April. During the ceremony, participants show respect to elders by sprinkling water on them and make offerings to spirits. Additionally, women and girls wear a yellow flower in their hair and perform a special dance. In Burma and Thailand, people fill the streets and spray each other with water for several days.
  
  
• Karen Martyr’s Day is held on August 12 and commemorates the anniversary of the death of Saw Ba U Gyi (the first president of the Karen National Union) in 1950. Others who have fought for the Karen are also honored in remembrance of the Karen resistance.
  
  
• The annual Karen Wrist-Tying Ceremony is held in August (some celebrate at weddings too). It is rooted in the Animist belief to call back the spirits and bring good fortune. Monks and elders sit with a basket of 7 items in front of them: cold water, white threads, rice balls, triangular-shaped lumps of sticky rice in the packages, boiled bananas, paw woung flower branches, and sugarcane. They place each of these items in the participant’s hand and then tie a string around the wrist with yellow or white string. The meaning of the wrist tying is so the person is connected to one’s spirit and therefore can live free from fear.
  
  
• Sweet December is held on November 30 and marks the beginning of the Christmas celebrations for Christians. People go to the church to play games and sing, and when the clock strikes midnight, they celebrate by eating a rice soup called may klaw.
  
  
• Karen New Year is celebrated on the First Day of Pyathoe on the Lunar calendar, which is generally the end of December or beginning of January. It marks the end of the harvest of one rice crop and the beginning of the next rice crop. Karen New Year is the largest celebration in the Karen community and is celebrated nationally throughout Burma.
  
  

Karen in Other US Cities
Although Minnesota is believed to be the state with the largest Karen population, Karen people have settled in other mayor US cities such as New York, Nebraska, and Indiana. Many of the major metropolitan areas of upstate New York have significant Karen populations. Estimates in 2010 put their numbers at 2,500 in Buffalo, 500 in Rochester, 4,000 in Utica and Rome and 1,000 in Albany. However more recent accounts put the number much higher, as of 2015 around 5,000 are now believed to be residing in Albany, while as of 2016 5,500 Karen and 1,200 Karenni are believed to live in Buffalo. Since 2006 a total of around 2,400 Karen refugees have settled in Syracuse as of 2017. Karen refugees first started arriving in the Omaha metropolitan area around 2005, and as of 2013 an estimated 5,000 have settled in the area. Nebraska is believed to be the state with the third-highest Karen population after Minnesota and New York. The city of Indianapolis has a significant population of Burmese immigrants which include the roughly 1,000 Karen and 300 Karenni refugees who have been resettled there. Karen are a part of over 10,000 Burmese refugees that have been resettled in Indiana, including Chin and Rohingya.

Looking for a Karen interpreter or translator?
Nowlanguage.com offers Karen interpreters and translators in-person, by phone, and video.

Sources:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-karen-people-culture-history.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_conflict
http://culturecareconnection.org/matters/diversity/karen.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_people_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_people#Language
https://www.mnkaren.org/history-culture/karen-culture/celebrations/