Like Father, Like Son

“I have been using the same design since twelve years old.” Now 35, Aung Ko continues to wear the exact design he has sported since youth. His pattern is made unique by running a comb through each Thanaka square, which leaves deep and textured grooves.

Aung Ko sits atop his rickshaw waiting for customers along Monywa's busy Strand Road. His Thanaka design is a tradition he enjoys sharing with his son.

Aung Ko has worked as a rickshaw driver in his riverside hometown of Monywa for nearly twenty years. He supports his wife and only son, who is growing up fast and has just begun seventh grade. He exclaimed with pride how his son uses Thanaka every day and, moreover, that he applies an identical pattern to his own. The Aung family also uses Thanaka root as a traditional medicine. Peddling people around every day often leaves Aung Ko with sore muscles and cuts, for which he grinds Thanaka root with water and applies the paste to the effected area. In both application and medicine, Aung Ko illustrates that Thanaka culture is also passed down through paternal lines.