What stands out while traveling in Myanmar is how many sacred Buddha images and pagodas are gilded in shiny gold leaves Yes, it's real gold! The most prominent of these shimmering relics is Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon covered in tiny sheets of gold.
While in Myanmar, I went to a workshop to see the gold pounders of Mandalay. My visit was both humbling and eye-opening.
The gold pounders' district is called Myat Pa Ya. The district spreads over two blocks where workshops line the streets. The rhythmic hammering can be heard from a distance. In the forefront of these workshops are men laboriously pounding every inch of these gold leaves for hours on end.
The work is extremely strenuous and physical. The gold pounders use heavy mallets which weigh several kilograms. The young, barefoot men bend forward while hammering relentlessly on small gold packets attached to stone slabs. The gold pounders work continuously nearly 8 hours a day.
Mounds of gold weighing a few grams are carefully placed in a bundle in between bamboo paper to then be flattened into almost weightless sheets. Bang, bang, bang. The newly-formed sheets are removed, placed once more in the bundle and the whole process starts again to create even more sheets.
The days in the workshop are stretched out from early in the morning to late at night. The wages are as thin as the precious sheets they pound. The gold pounders of Mandalay are paid according to how many bundles they hand over at the end of their shift. Adding to the strenuous work, there's no ventilation in the workshops so the heat can be stifling.
It's hard to believe that nearly all the gold leaves sold in Myanmar originate from this area! Hundreds of thousands of sheets are sold all over the country. Devotees place the gold leaves on sacred images as well as on religious icons as a show of respect. Some of the gold leaves are used in beauty products while others are eaten. Furthermore, gold apparently has some positive health benefits.
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13 Responses
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Sam sandy
very nice inforamtion, thanks for the post about Mandalay is a city and former royal capital in northern Myanmar.
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Lydia,
Fascinating. Because when you visit the place- as we visited Myanmar in March – you marvel at the scale and gold-ness of these temples around the land.
I spent a morning at Shwedagon and could not believe how much gold and craftsmanship went into building the place. One of the world wonders, in my opinion, because when you dwell on the man hours – and woman hours – to put it together, between the building and forming and then, you realize how freaking hot and humid the place is, you are left in awe. I also know they did not have those filtered water coolers way back in the day too to cool off while molding that gold into these huge temples 😉
Thanks for the Golden Burmese 411 Lydia.
Ryan
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It’s definitely mind-blowing all the gold that’s used to adorn their sacred monuments! I also often contemplate all the hours and hard labor put into building these religious sites without the use of modern-day technology and resources…..it’s crazy!