As I am working at the Hotel by the Red Canal Mandalay, gives me a chance to interact with people from many other countries. I realized that most of our guests praised to their room keys which are made up of “Palm Leaf”. Then I got an idea to write about the “Palm Leaf” and started collecting the sources, history and data related to that. Surprisingly, one of our valuable guests from UK asked me why I did not have a last name. In fact, I was a little puzzled by their questions and a little embarrassed because I had no answer to give. I just said that it’s not our custom to name a child after his or her father’s name, although some people do.I realized again that the traditional Myanmar way of naming children is quite unique. The technique is an astrological calculation that includes a person’s virtues, the day they were born according to the Myanmar lunar calendar. These calculations are called a “Zartar” in Myanmar language and are etched or inscribed into a palm leaf with a stylus. I had seen the leaves on a wall at my house but had never paid much attention to […]