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It is a great honor to greet all Tai people Happy Pi Mai Tai. We welcome the 2105th Pi Mai Tai, Shan New Year, before we welcome the 2011 AD and the Chinese New Year. Together with this Pi Mai, we celebrate the long, diverse and rich culture of our Tai people who are scattered all over four of the five continents.
To welcome Pi Mai this year, Tai people all over the world, from USA to India, from Britain to Singapore and Malaysia, from Australia to Thailand, from China to Mong Tai and all parts of the Union of Myanmar, gather and hold events to mark the auspicious occasion.
On this auspicious day, more than ever we think of our Tai families spread throughout the world and send our warmest greeting of goodwill, hope and love to all of them: we say Mai-soong Pi Mai Tai, first, to the over seven millions of our brothers and sisters in the Shan State and other parts of the Union of Myanmar where they are known to outsiders as Shan; then, to the millions of our people who are largely known as Dai living in the Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna) Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, both in southern China; also, to the eighteen million Dai Zhuang (Bouxcuengh/ผู้จ้วง) from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, also in southern China, who proudly count among them an Olympic gold medalist and businessman Li Ning (1963- ).
We also send our best Pi Mai wishes to the one million strong our brothers and sisters who are known as Táy in the famous Dien Bien Phu, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau and Son La areas of Vietnam who count among them Nông Đức Mạnh (1941 -), the powerful secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party; and to our Tai-Khamti and Tai-Phake siblings in Assam State and Arunachal State in India. Of course, our warmest Pi Mai wishes are also extended to our Pi-nongs in Thailand, Lao and in the Phailin area of Cambodia.
Pi Mai Tai is the occasion when we think of each other more and when our consciousness meets; let this year Pi Mai give us all strength to persevere with hope for peace. Let this year Pi Mai give us strength to enhance both education and wisdom with which our younger generations will make the progress we have been dreaming to realize. And, let us this Pi Mai make us all stronger that we can contribute to the world for the better.
Let me borrow the wise words of our philosopher- composer Dr. Sai Kham Leik who reminds us of the significance of Pi Mai Tai here. Our Pi Mai Tai celebrations are but a start to welcome many New Years. From the New Year of the Tai people in early December we enthusiastically go on to join the celebrations of New Year with people from every part of the world on 1st January, from Pi Mai Tai to a New Year universally celebrated, and then we also celebrate the Chinese New Year.
With this note, may I wish you all a Happy Pi Mai Tai! May this Pi Mai bring us good fortune, happiness, good health and success!
May the blessings of the Buddha be upon and with us all!
Venerable Prof. Dr. Khammai Dhammasami
DPhil (Oxford)
The Shan New Year falls on the First Waxing Day of the First Lunar Month, which, for this year, corresponds with 7 December 2010 – Editor
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