Draft:Letu Chin People: Difference between revisions

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<ref></ref>{{Short description|This is about the Letu(Laytu) Chin people and the culture of them}}

<ref></ref>{{Short description|This is about the Letu(Laytu) Chin people and the culture of them}}

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== References ==

== References ==

== References ==

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; Bibliography

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၂၉ ရက်) အချပ်ပို-က(အထူးကဏ္ဍ)

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Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).

This is about the Letu(Laytu) Chin people and the culture of them

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Letu Chin People
The Letu Chin (also spelled Laytu, Ledu, or Lay-du) are an ethnic group belonging to the Chin people of Myanmar (Burma). They are officially recognized by the government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar as one of the 53 distinct Chin ethnic groups. While they are linguistically and culturally distinct, they are administratively classified under the “Lay Myo Chin” group, designated as number 40 in the official list of Chin ethnics.

History and Origins
Due to a lack of ancient written literature, the history of the Letu people is reconstructed through oral traditions, stone pillar inscriptions, colonial-era English records, and the study of national markers such as cemeteries.

Migration and Legend
According to oral history, the ancestors of the Letu migrated approximately 900 years ago from the direction of Sidoktaya Township in the Magway Region, moving along the Mone Stream. They crossed the Pûi ré mountain range, bordering the current Kyindwe town in Kanpetlet Township, Southern Chin State.

A prominent oral legend recounts that during their migration near the Má Ré range (the border of modern Rakhine and Chin States), a giant ape known as Cimcé blocked their path. The group used bows and arrows to defeat the ape, allowing them to proceed toward the Than Stream. This event is central to their identity, leading to the claim that they are “the people who descended with bows and arrows”

Etymology
The name Letu is derived from the term líthuaw, which translates to “The Bow Carrier”.
• Lí/Law: Meaning “Bow” or “Arrow” in the Letu language.
• Tu: A suffix derived from the Burmese word Thu, meaning “person” or “one who does,” which is transliterated as “Tu” in various Chin tribal names (e.g., Lautu, Matu, Cumtu).
Historically, the word for bow shifted from Lí to Le. This linguistic shift is attributed to the long-standing interaction between Chin and Burmese populations, resulting in shared vocabulary over centuries. Colonial records often used the spelling “Ledu,” while modern standardizations prefer “Letu” to reflect the correct pronunciation.

Geography and Population
The Letu Chin primarily inhabit the Rakhine State and parts of the Chin State. Their settlements are historically concentrated along specific water sources:
• Than Stream (Sjm long)
• Vap Stream (Vap Long)
• Thray Stream (Te Long)
• Phunglong Stream
Administrative areas with significant Letu populations include Paletwa Township, Mrauk-U Township, and Minbya Township.

Demographics and Census
The Letu have been recorded in official censuses under specific codes:
• 1921 & 1931 Censuses: Recorded as “Ledu” with the census code C.40.Ledu.
• 1955 Estimate: The Myanmar Encyclopedia (Vol. 2) estimated the “Lay-du” population in Kyaukphyu District at approximately 1,700.
• 2023 Estimate: Recent updates suggest a population of approximately 15,000 Letu people residing mostly in the Mrauk-U District.

Linguistics
The Letu language is part of the Kuki-Chin branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Linguistically, the Letu are considered a group situated between the Cho and Asho Chin tribes, rather than being a sub-group of the Asho as previously hypothesized23.
Shared Vocabulary with Burmese
The Letu language shares several words with Burmese, suggesting ancient linguistic exchanges24.
No. Burmese Word Letu (Chin) Word Romanized Note
1 Ein (House) Im (s) Ím Similar
2 Nga (Fish) Ngaw (s) Ngáw Similar
3 Lan (Road) Lam Lám Similar
4 Wut (Wear) Vok Vòk Similar
5 Mee (Fire) Mee Mí/Mé Similar

Culture and Customs
The “O Kom” Ceremony
The cultural identity of the Letu is deeply tied to the bow and arrow. A traditional birth ceremony known as Ó Kóm is practiced to determine a child’s future.
• For Boys: On the third day after birth, the father shoots a bow made of Karen bamboo at a target. The child is then made to step on the earth with the bow and arrow. Success in hitting the target is believed to predict the child’s future excellence and status as a noble man.
• For Girls: They are given a cotton basket and a weaving sword to hold while stepping on the ground, symbolizing industry and social acceptance.

The evolution of the tribal Name.
There is a common misconception that the name “Letu” is derived from the “Lay Myo River”. Historical analysis refutes this:
1. Indigenous Terms: The Letu people call the Lay Myo stream “Phung Long” and the people living there “Phung Long Saw,” not “Lay Myo”.
2. Collective Terminology: The term “Lay Myo Chin” is a geographic collective noun that encompasses multiple distinct tribes residing along the river, including the Letu, Hiatuii, Uppu, and Dai.
3. Literary Evidence: Rakhine chronicles dating back to the Mrauk-U period (e.g., Rakhine Yazawin Thit) refer to the group as “Lay-too” or “Lay-hlu,” distinct from the river’s name.

References

References

Bibliography

• မြန်မာ့စွယ်စုံကျမ်း အတွဲ(၂) ၊ (ရန်ကုန်၊ စာပေဗိမာန်၊ ၁၉၅၅)၊ စာ ၃၉၅။
• မြန်မာ့ဆိုရှယ်လစ်လမ်းစဉ်ပါတီမှ ၁၉၆၈ ခုနှစ်တွင် ထုတ်ဝေခဲ့သော တိုင်းရင်းသား ယဥ်ကျေးမှု ရိုးရာဓလေ့ထုံးစံများ(ချင်း)
• ဆလိုင်းအိုက်ဇက်ခင်၊ ချင်းပြည်နယ်၊ ချင်းလူမျိုး – ယခင်၊ ယခုနှင့် မနက်ဖြန် ။
• မင်းပြားမြို့နယ် ဖြစ်စဉ်မှတ်တမ်း။
• မောင်မောင်ကျော့(ပလက်ဝ)၊ ရခိုင်ဒေသမှ ချင်းတိုင်းသားတို့အကြောင်း – ကြေးမုံသတင်းစာ (၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ်၊ စက်တင်ဘာလ ၂၉ ရက်) အချပ်ပို-က(အထူးကဏ္ဍ)
• J. J. Bennison, Census of India, 1931 Volume XI Burma Part I.—Report (Yangon: Government Printing and Stationery, 1933).
• U Tha Tun Pru, The Minbya Chin Hill of the Akyab Districts.
• Ezra Max Siegel: Myanmar Mrauk U Letu Chin