Observations placeholder
Chin lines
Identifier
006602
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Chin are one of the largest ethnic groups in Myanmar [formerly Burma]. They are found mainly in the western part of Myanmar (the Chin State) as well as the nearby Indian states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur and Assam. At one time, the Chin were a strongly shamanic based society with traditional tribal beliefs, however, owing to Mizo influence and Baptist missionaries' intervention, 80%-90% of the population are now Christians. The remnants of the Chin cultural beliefs are found in their roads, again, straight line paths that criss cross the landscape between formerly sacred sites.
A description of the experience
Blackwood’s magazine February 1923
Like all Chin tracks, regardless of gradients it followed the most direct line between villages. A Chin prefers a steep climb to a level road [sic!]
But there is some evidence that the Chin were not the only culture that made such tracks in Burma/Myanmar………..
Alfred Watkins – The Old Straight Track
The pagodas of Burma and other lands, almost always on a ridge or peak, with a spiked head emphasising them, as in the case of our English spires, as mark points