Pwo Western Karen in Myanmar (Burma)
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The Western Pwo Karen live in Myanmar, in the Irrawaddy Delta region. Mostly they are rural rice farmers. There are many Buddhists as well as Christians. Generally, the Buddhists continue to practice traditional Karen religion, that is, making sacrifices to various spirits.
Burmese culture and language has a significant influence among Western Pwo Karen. Some Western Pwo Karen have even given up their language in favor of Burmese, while maintaining their Karen identity. Many Western Pwo Karen were affected by the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Through Pwo Karen survey work, we found that the Bible we called the "Western" Pwo Karen Bible was actually translated for Eastern and Western, and likely was more suitable to Eastern than Western. This information comes from Womack (2005) and Eastern Pwo Karen interviewees. The reason that this translation is today known as the "Western" Pwo Karen Bible is that the Western Pwo Karen converted in larger numbers and use this Bible more. However, the Eastern Pwo Karen Christians do use this Bible as well and consider it to be their own language. Therefore, we now know that the Eastern Pwo Karen have their "own" Bible.
* Scripture Prayers for the Karen, Pwo Western in Myanmar (Burma).
| Profile Source: Anonymous |
| Expanded PDF Profile |
| People Name General | Karen, Pwo Western |
| People Name in Country | Karen, Pwo Western |
| Natural Name | Pwo Western Karen |
| World Population | 209,000 |
| Total Countries | 1 |
| Indigenous | Yes |
| Progress Scale | 5 ● |
| Unreached | No |
| Frontier People Group | No |
| GSEC | 4 (per PeopleGroups.org) |
| Pioneer Workers Needed | |
| Alternate Names | |
| People ID | 19212 |
| ROP3 Code | 114923 |
| Country | Myanmar (Burma) | ||
| Region | Asia, Southeast | ||
| Continent | Asia | ||
| 10/40 Window | Yes | ||
| National Bible Society | Website | ||
| Persecution Rank | 19 (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking) | ||
| Location in Country | Ayeyarwady: Einmeh, Maubin, Pathein, Twante, others; Bago: including Kyonpyaw and Hinthada towns; Yangon: Twante. Source: Ethnologue 2016 | ||
| Country | Myanmar (Burma) |
| Region | Asia, Southeast |
| Continent | Asia |
| 10/40 Window | Yes |
| National Bible Society | Website |
| Persecution Rank | 19 (Open Doors top 50 rank, 1 = highest persecution ranking) |
| Location in Country | Ayeyarwady: Einmeh, Maubin, Pathein, Twante, others; Bago: including Kyonpyaw and Hinthada towns; Yangon: Twante.. Source: Ethnologue 2016 |
| Primary Language | Karen, Pwo Western (209,000 speakers) |
| Language Code | pwo Ethnologue Listing |
| Language Written | Yes ScriptSource Listing |
| Total Languages | 1 |
| Primary Language | Karen, Pwo Western (209,000 speakers) |
| Language Code | pwo Ethnologue Listing |
| Total Languages | 1 |
| People Groups | Speaking Karen, Pwo Western |
Primary Language: Karen, Pwo Western
| Bible Translation ▲ | Status (Years) |
|---|---|
| Bible-Portions | Yes (1845-1867) |
| Bible-New Testament | Yes (1860) |
| Bible-Complete | Yes (1883-1885) |
| Possible Print Bibles | |
|---|---|
| Amazon | |
| Forum Bible Agencies | |
| National Bible Societies | |
| World Bible Finder | |
| World Bibles | |
| Resource Type ▲ | Resource Name |
|---|---|
| Audio Recordings | Audio Bible teaching (GRN) |
| Audio Recordings | Story of Jesus audio (Jesus Film Project) |
| Film / Video | Jesus Film: view in Karen, Pwo Western |
| Primary Religion: | Christianity |
| Religion Subdivision: | Protestant |
| Major Religion ▲ | Percent |
|---|---|
| Buddhism |
38.00 %
|
| Christianity (Evangelical 18.00 %) |
42.00 %
|
| Ethnic Religions |
20.00 %
|
| Hinduism |
0.00 %
|
| Islam |
0.00 %
|
| Non-Religious |
0.00 %
|
| Other / Small |
0.00 %
|
| Unknown |
0.00 %
|
| Christian Segments ▲ | Percent |
|---|---|
| Anglican |
0.0 %
|
| Independent |
8.0 %
|
| Orthodox |
0.0 %
|
| Other Christian |
1.0 %
|
| Protestant |
75.0 %
|
| Roman Catholic |
16.0 %
|
