Ancient myths lie at the heart of manau festivities... "It?s a scene out of the distant past—two columns of dancers loop, coil and weave a sinuous route around a ceremonial arch spanning a circular arena enclosed by a split bamboo fence. The arch is topped by a line of 10 tall boards colorfully decorated with linked linear maze patterns. A crossbeam, decorated with depictions of various birds and other animals, carries the carved head of a hornbill bird at one end and its tail at the other. The structure is called a manau—and that?s also the name of the ritual dance ceremony, performed by the Kachin people of Burma. In early December it was also being performed in the northern Thai village of Baan Mai Samaki, home to some 500 Kachin refugees who work on land managed by the Thai King?s Highland Development Project. This is the second manau to be celebrated at Baan Mai Samaki—the first was in 2003—and it was expected to draw Kachin exiles from as far away as China and India..."