Are the Gods Smiling on Burma?

By YENI

Earlier this week, thousands of Burmese from each corner of the country came out from their houses and peered up at the night sky. They gazed at the heavens and gasped. They carried out their children and pointed at the sky. “Look!” they whispered to their infants. “The sky is smiling at us!” And no doubt many children stared up in awe at the sight of two distinct white eyes in the black sky, with a smiling mouth appearing just underneath.

The mouth they were witnessing, of course, was a crescent moon; but the bright eyes were a rarer phenomenon— the alignment of Venus and Jupiter. In a celestial triangle, a “smiley face” was painted on the night sky for everyone from Bangkok to Kenya to see on Monday and Tuesday nights.

On the other side of the world, in the United States, for example, the crescent moon was turned upside-down in the evening sky, making it look like a frowning, sad face staring back at the earth.

In Burma, however, it was clearly a happy smile and—being superstitious people—most agreed it must be a good omen.

Astrologers were quickly consulted and the word was passed down that as Venus and Jupiter are considered lucky planets, the signs must be positive. The conjunction of the two planets influenced people, the seers said, to be benevolent, kind, sympathetic and generous.

On either side of Burma’s borders you might immediately have taken this to be true. In India, the hostage drama at the Taj and Oberoi hotels was ended successfully by commandos and Mumbai breathed a sigh of relief. In Thailand, the 192-day vigil by anti-government protesters came to a climactic finale, with the resignation of the prime minister, the disbanding of the three top ruling coalition parties and the end of sieges at the capital’s two airports.

But what about Burma? Were the stars and the moon not smiling for us too? Or were the gods just laughing at us?

Burma’s faithful has endured torrid times in recent years. Last year’s brutal suppression of monks and their supporters by the security forces was seen as a blasphemy. Perhaps the gods tried to stake their vengeance by creating the cyclone that devastated the delta region. If so, they sadly missed their target. It should have been Naypyidaw.

But, as we all know, Fortress Naypyidaw was built on the advice of soothsayers to protect the generals. Perhaps the gods have a wicked sense of humor after all.
Nonetheless, it didn’t go without notice that, in Burma, a well-known prophecy has been passed down from father to son for centuries, foretelling that the conjunction of Venus and the moon—as opposed to Venus and Jupiter—would lead to the destruction of the country.

I’m sure there is no love lost for Venus from the superstitious generals. Indeed the sight of the Goddess of Love must fill them with hate and fear.

Ever since Cyclone Nargis brought Hell to Burma, local astrologers have been quietly warning that the new capital, Naypyidaw, would “fill up with piles of bones.”

As melodramatic as that sounds, we have seen Burma’s second city Mandalay struck by a raging inferno in February, followed by the loss of Rangoon’s much loved trees from the cyclone winds—two events that even the least superstitious of us would have to concede are a little bit spooky. For the astrology-fearing Burmese public, the alignment of tragic events comes across as Apocalyptic in nature. Neighbors whisper of Doomsday scenarios while devotees rush to shrines to pray for their posterity.

So—indulge me please, if you will—if Naypyidaw were to “fill up with piles of bones,” how would it come about?

As a lesser-known fortune-teller, allow me to prophesize for a moment.

The alignment of heavenly bodies brings about a mystic phenomenon in Burma. First, aging dictator-in-chief Than Shwe is struck down with cancer and hypertension. He dies soon after. A power struggle quickly ensues in Naypyidaw. Vice dictator-in-chief Maung Aye is arrested by thugs led by Joint Chief of Staff of the Burmese Armed Forces Shwe Mann and First Secretary Tin Aung Myint Oo.

Naypyidaw divides into two factions and much bloodshed is wrought upon the land. At the end of the day, the piles of bones belong to the former generals and the sky is smiling brightly.