Moken - I never heard of such word until i watched the National Geographic Special. Moken is the sea gypsy people that lives on the coastal water of Myanmar and Thailand. They lives on water, inside Kapang, their traditional boat. (Picture by P. Ivanoff 1957)
After Googling more info on Moken, this is the most startling thing i read about them. Excerpt from the website of Merfui Archipelago Project - Rearch And Integrated Development (MAP-RAID) http://www.mapraid.net/pages/tsunami.htm
"Of course, the Moken village was better protected than the other villages since the nomads know very well which places will give them the best protection. But the message is clear. « Here lives a great shaman and who says great shaman says small tsunami, because he knows how to read the messages from the supernatural world and to give warning in advance ». At the moment of the catastrophy the Moken of the Sisters Islands came out of their houses and their boats to face the waves on the open strand (few kms). Unconsciousness or prescience ? One must understand that the Moken consider that if one shows ones fear one inevitably attracts bad luck. To make fun of the anger of the spirits and danse before any danger, is to affirm their confidence in their traditions and their ancestors. Thus, for them, the wave stopped at the Sisters Islands and the shaman to be was de facto confirmed in his function. It was the spirits who had elected the shaman together with the primeval forces sent by the ancestors. The Burmese respect for the Moken became greater and the Moken spirits are now considered as being respectable since events have proved this"
...very interesting Moken.
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