A look into Myanmar’s enduring nat worship—a spirit pantheon born from tragedy, woven into ritual, and thriving alongside Buddhism Statues of nats on Mt Popa (Pic: Paul Arps/flickr) AS in many Asian cultures where the worship of semi-legendary figures is common, Myanmar has its own centuries-old tradition uniquely woven into its Buddhist fabric: the cult of nats. Buddhism may teach self-reliance and the law of causality, but for many in Myanmar, who identify themselves as Buddhists, reason alone may feel insufficient, and so quiet bargains are struck with the unseen. As Yuval Noah Harari notes in Sapiens , humans are storytelling creatures, and it is through stories that shared memories endure. In Myanmar, tales of figures who met tragic ends, often through martyrdom or betrayal, have been etched into the nation’s memory, stirring both sympathy and affection. Devotees carve their statues, bow before them, and offer prayers: pitying the nats for their fates, yet at the same time relying...