My Mother’s Prison Skirt

In this story, my Burmese mother describes my grandmother’s experience being imprisoned in Myanmar in the search for my grandfather, a revolutionary against the military regime. My mother relays to the reader how she continues to carry her mother’s legacy through passed-down values.

“[…] Bali Batiks in shades of green on colorful background.” | Photo by Heidi G on Flickr

Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Burmese women wear “longyis” (l[eh]-own-GEEZ) that are long — from their waist to their ankles — because they are comfortable, light, and airy. It is well accepted in Burma that cotton is the best material for longyis because it is the most comfortable. You don’t want to be wearing polyester or synthetic ones — you would be dripping sweat from head to toe.

“Two women walking the U Bein bridge wearing longyi.” | Credit: Paul Arps via Wikipedia

In my mother’s days, the most popular fabric for women in Burma was Indonesian batik. It came from neighboring countries like Malaysia, Thailand and, of course, Indonesia. If you look up batik, it is plain cotton that has been stamped on with designs made from wax-resist dyeing. The hot wax is applied to the cotton and…