| Description |
Translation (Rita)
I don't know when we started eating salt. But we eat salt. Since long time ago, we ate salt. I had no idea what people ate when they lived on Tibet plain. Since the past time, people ate salt. I don't know who eat salt. Does Chinese eat salt? Does Tibetan eat salt? Here, there is natural salty water on the mountains. There is salty water. We call it 'Sha-it' (natural salty pond). It's salty. Somewhere on the mountain, there are salty ponds. But not everywhere. We cooked that water. When it boiled, we evaporated the water and let it settle. But we didn't know how to make that salt white. It's not absolute white. It's still salty, but a little bit rough. We call it 'Sha-it'. 'It' (in Kachin) means 'salty'. There is one salty pond at 7 miles after Confluence. Many birds come there. In March and April, a lot of birds come there. They lick the salt there. They drink the salty water. But that is not so salty. If we keep boiling that water, we get salt. The Kachin people usually boil and evaporate the salty water to get salt. People from Maru Krung Nmai Hka (river) area make that water as solid. They boil the salty water first. When it evaporates, they make it as solid salt. They make it flat like jaggery. That is salty too, but still a little bit rough. After many years when Shan people brought salt, we finally got a kind of salt which we ate now. It's really smooth. As far as I remember, there is Marau salt in the up-river area. 70 or 80 miles up from Mali Hka (river), there is a river called Marau which flows to the west. There is much salt in that river. Everyone go there to get salt. People from everywhere go there. They brought some baskets with them. They carried the water from that river and cooked it. They let the water evaporate by the fire. Then, they got salt. But it is not white too. It's salty and a little bit bitter. But it's not dangerous for people to eat. It's not dangerous. We call it 'Marau salt'. There is another salt called 'Tum'. It can be found in somewhere above Nhkai Bum (mountain). That salt is white. And there is one salt mine on the way to Danai (town). People extract salt there. We call 'Langa salt'. The other one is called 'Tum salt'. We get salt from the rivers situated at the place where we live. We didn't know how to produce white salt to sell. We make salt only to eat. It was like that in the past. We didn't make sugar in the past. We ate only ready-made sugar. During World War II, English and American arrested people and let them work as a soldier. But they gave wages. They are not the same with soldiers nowadays. They didn't let their soldiers go somewhere there wasn't any fight or war. They are so systematic. They made sure their soldiers to be safe. They also gave money. Since then, we got to know what sugar was. We stole it to eat. We, Kachin, are late in every situation. We have only rules. We didn't use sugar. We didn't even know what it was. We got to eat things such as jaggery or brown slab sugar when Shan people brought those. We thought they were very delicious. The Kachin people are late in any situation. Since we worshipped Nat spirits in the past, we were very strict in rules and disciplines. But there is nothing for our development. Now, we didn't have our cultural heritage. It's because we didn't use bricks, steels or irons which could last long. We made everything with bamboos or woods. As times went past, they disappeared. It's just like that. We are just people who talk the talk. We do a lot just by words. That's it. That's all about salt.
Transcription (Ja Seng Roi)
Jum gaw galoi kawn sha ai re n chye, jum ngu sha ai, Matsun maroi hta jum nga ai. Moi htaw ' Tibet Kung Pyin Myint ' de nga ai shaloi hpa sha ai kun gaw n chyoi. Jum gaw moi kawn tsun ai. Ganang na sha ai kun, MIwa ni kaw na sha ai, "Tibet " ni sha ai kun. Dai gaw jum ngu tsun ai yaw. Reng ya an hte n dai de du wa ai sha loi gaw jum hka nga ai, bum ga hkan le. Jum hka nga ai. Dai hpe Sha-It ngu ai re. Ndai Sa Ngan ai. Jum shum ai hka nga ai shara ra hkan dai hpe shadu ai. Dai hpe shadu. Yawng hkan n re law, shara shara hkan nga ai. Dai hpe shadu jahkyet shadu jahkyet n she hpang jahtum gaw dai hpe shage la ai le. Raiting dai ahpraw rai hkra n chye galaw ai Jinghpaw ni. Loi mi sha gaw ahpraw n re le, sha tim loi shum gaw shum tim loi mazep mazep dai baw sha, Sha-It ngu ai re. Sha-It, It ngu ai gaw shum ai ng ga re. Hka le shara ra hkan. Ya nang kaw mung htaw ra nang kaw na e MYITSONE lai reng Mile 7 kaw nga ai. U ni grai sa lu ai. U ni. Grau na n dai jan ja ai April, March hkan rai yang U, U mana maka sa ai. Sa n na dai kaw gap sha. Dai hka lu ai le, Sha-It hka ngu ai. Rai ting dai gaw grai wa n shum ai le. Loi, loi mi shum nga hpe shadu hkrai shadu yang dai kaw na jum lu ai. Dai majaw Jinghpaw ni gaw wo ra Sha-It kaw shadu lu, le ra kaw shadu lu Wo ra Maru krung Nmai hka de na ni gaw ahke galaw ai. Dai hpe shadu n na she jum kawn ngu ai pa pa san ai. Nang kaw na Htinyet zawn san ai pa pa re. Dai hpe hkawk hkawk di, rai ting dai gaw sha yang shum gaw shum ai. Rai timung loi mi mazep mazep re. Hpang she n dai de jum hkangwi ya an sha ai zawn re nang Sam ni la lung wa n she dai hpe Sam jum ngu ai. Grai hkangwi ai. Re na ya an hte Hkahku ga de gaw ngai lep ai gaw Marau jum ngu ai nga ai. Nang kawn Mali Hka de lung wa yang, ndai kaw na Mile 70, 80 ram re sha loi nang sin na den yawng shang ai Marau hka ngu ai nga ai. Dai wa gaw grai pru ai. Dai kaw dai kaw chyu sa ju ma ai. Dai kaw, ga nang nang ni yawng sa. Re gaw shan hte gaw n di gun sa n she dai hka hpe ja n na n di hkawng masum, nang kaw ngai, nang ngai, nang ngai di htaw kaw achyan shadu hkrai shadu shadu jahkyet hkrai jahkyet n she nang kaw du jang she achyang n hprawng ai law, sha ting loi ma shum gaw shum tim loi hka hka nga ai. Rai tim Andaye n byin ai. Shi gaw Andaye n byin ai. Dai sha ai Marau jum ngu ai. Reng she nang n dai Nhkai bum e lahta daw kaw tum jum ngu ai nga ai. Dai wa gaw loi hprawng ai Re htaw ra, htaw ra bum Danai de sa wa ai lam kaw e Daru bum nang n ga dai kaw jum maw ngai nga ai, Grai dai kaw na shadu la ai. Langa jum ngu ai. Htaw ra tum jum. Dai majaw Jum gaw shi chyu chyu shan hte nga ai shara hka kawn hpaw ai dai shadu la ai. Raitim dut sha na ram mana maka tsawm hkra n chye galaw ai. Dai sha na ram sha galaw ai. Dai hku rai ma ai. Jum Dwi gaw n chye lang ai gaw, ya nang kaw na galaw ai she sha ai gaw. Jum dwi gaw n chye lang ai. Ya masha ni galaw tawn ai hpe dai " Dudiya kaba sit "hkan an kajai ai Ingalik, Amerigan ni e Pota soi ai le, dai yang mung Pota soi ai Rai timung shabrai jaw ai dai. Shan hte gaw ya na ni hte n bung ai. Bai, Sip n byin ai de ma n sa shangun ai. Shawng lam de, shan hte gaw Tsanit Chya ai law. Hpang de lung chyung ai hku woi ai, gumhpraw ma jaw ai Dai shaloi she chye hpang ai gaw, lagu sha Jum dwi nga sha. An hte Jinghpaw gaw Tsikan ngu ai n dai Rit Kawp lang ai hta lai na kaga grai hpang hkrat ai gaw, sapya ma n lang ai. Jum dei ngu ma n chyoi. Ya ndai Htinyet, Chyan daga nang de na Sam ni kaw na la wa n sha ai dai hpe gaw grai mu htum hku sawn ai Jinghpaw gaw grai hpang hkrat ai gaw. Shi gaw n dai Nat jaw nga ting shi htung hta Manau galaw ai ngu Tsikan gaw grai kaba ai. Rai tim dai galu kaba ai hta n nga ai. Ya ndai Jinghpaw ni e n dai ' Yin Chye Mu'pyit tsi ngu n nga ai mu. An hte ni wut lang n chye. Hpri hpe law law n lang chye. Kawa hkrai hpun hkrai galaw yawng hpa galaw ting yawng mat. Dai hku rai nga an hte na gaw. Mungga gaw grai zuk grung ai. N gup gaman gaw grai chye tsun ai. Dai rai sai. Bai, Jum a na gaw dai re. |
