My little pilgrimage to the Golden Rock

by Margaux Heilporn (France)

Making a local connection Myanmar

The Golden Rock is one of the main spiritual buddhist sites in Myanmar. There, a specific fervour fills the air. In Myanmar, traditions are well-preserved and religion is central to daily-life. Cultural understanding is very precious because as an outsider, it could be quite difficult to understand. To me the Golden rock was definitely a place where I experienced the spiritual rites in the heart of this sacred region. For my penultimate travel day, I took a bus for four hours to the Golden rock. It felt very busy when you get to the small village at the foot of the mountain : there are a lot of families, locals are either eating or looking to buy offerings, some are waiting for the shuttle bus with all their luggages. I also had to wait in line to get in the truck where no less than fifty people are packed together. Even if the seat is uncomfortable, the truck is the fastest way to reach the top. It has completely changed the way the locals go on pilgrimage. It felt singular that the truck stopped several times along the way. It is meant to reproduce the ancient spiritual walk when people were climbing the hill on foot. At each stop people started to pray. A young woman around my age stared at me and asked me why I didn’t pray. As she spoke a quite good english, she explained to me the reasons why it is important for her family to regularly come here. She came from the capital accompanied by her family to honour the spirits and ask them to grant wishes. It is not often that they go on holidays all together. Once arrived, Maureen introduced me to her family. Our exchange was limited to some caring smiles that showed real kindness. You can’t explain why but, especially when you are travelling alone, that kind of smiles warms your heart. One hour before sunset, everyone got well-dressed and gathered all the offerings : food, flowers and candles. As I didn’t have traditional clothes, she said she would lend me some. It was so considerate of her. I really looked like a local in her clothes, in addition to my chinese origin. They insisted that I join them. I think they wanted to show me their cultural traditions, of which they are so proud. On our way, a good mood had invaded the family. When I discovered the Golden rock I was really impressed. It was so imposing. I supposed that for the family it was still impressive even though they have been here for many years. Maureen explained to me that the rock stands in balance thanks to just one hair of Buddha. Her mother seemed to encourage the father and his son to go together. As the women can not enter and touch the Golden rock, we went to one of the adjacent shrines. From far we could observe her father and her brother joining the crowd around the rock. Maureen told me that they went to pray for good omens for the family and they will then paste golden leaves on the rock for prosperity. For our part, we brought offerings to a shrine and they invited me to light a candle. Maureen advised me to wish for something good for my family. It was a great honour for me to be part of the ritual and she really tried to include me in their beliefs. We finally met up for a diner with the family on the main square. This is important to be there because they believe in the magic of the Golden rock and being together here allows them to be impregnated of the good will of the spirits. Maureen actually invited me to stay for diner. I really regretted at this moment that my flight was the next day and I had to leave… But my heart was so thankful as they took care of me without any hesitation. I so much enjoyed being with this one day family ! We didn’t stay in touch and sometimes I wish we did. But ephemeral encounters are also a part of travelling and make this memory so special.