Elephant honoured as Burma rebrands itself

Burma’s ruling junta staged a lavish welcoming ceremony for the country’s fifth white elephant captured in recent years as it arrived in the capital, state media reported today.

The festivities coincided with the unveiling of a new national flag and a new national name – going from Union of Burma to Republic of the Union of Burma - two weeks before an election that the government calls a major step in a transition to democracy but critics say is a sham.

White elephants, actually albinos, have for centuries been revered in Burma, Thailand, Laos and other Asian nations. They were normally kept and pampered by monarchs and considered a symbol of royal power and prosperity.

The 18-year-old elephant, captured in jungle in north-western Rakhine state last month, was greeted by a host of senior leaders upon its arrival yesterday in Naypyidaw.

The seven-foot-one-inch-tall elephant was sprinkled with scented water during a ceremony at the Uppatasanti Pagoda, a replica of the famed Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, the former capital and largest city in Burma.

The white elephant circled the pagoda clockwise before joining the country’s fourth white elephant at the elephant enclosure at the eastern corner of the pagoda, the New Light of Burma newspaper said.

Officials performed a house warming ceremony, feeding ceremony, naming ceremony and chanted prayers for its welfare and safety.

The elephants are not necessarily white. They can look similar to other elephants except for certain features like fair eyelashes and toenails, light-coloured hair or a reddish hue to the skin.

The two elephants in Naypyitaw look unusually white.

The other three elephants captured and held in captivity in Burma in recent years are kept at a special park in Rangoon, where they live in an enclosure with spiralled pavilions, a manmade waterfall, ponds and trees.