We went to a middle school in Albany today, we were invited to watch Burmese refugees from all over New York State in a Karen New Year celebration of a forthcoming successful rice crop.

The first day of Pyathoe is not a distinct festival for any religious group,  it is a day open to Karen people of all faiths. Karen New Year is celebrated throughout Burma, in refugee camps and Karen villages in Thailand, and Karen refugee communities around the world.

In Karen State Karen New Year celebrations are sometimes harassed by the military government, or disrupted by fighting and civil conflict.

There were more than a thousand refugees at the Karen celebration in Albany today, Maria and I were invited by Ali and officials  of RISSE, the refugee and immigrant center in Albany. The RISSE soccer team and education programs have a number of Burmese refugees, and it was an amazing day for us, full of beautiful dancing and mystical song.

More than a thousand people crowded into the school gym, and we were mesmerized by a culture and world we barely new existed, let alone had ever seen. I have to say it was also a wonderful celebration of the true meaning of diversity, people who have come to America to be free, but who work so hard to preserve the memories of their culture for themselves and their children.

I’m grateful to Ali for inviting us. We loved every minute of it, and I’ll put up some videos and photos. The refugee experience is integral to the American experience in my mind, it has been a light to the world. Burma is one of those countries that is poorly and deeply troubled now, the festival today was stirring and poignant.

We would be so much more of a barren country if we only permitted wealthy white people to come here, in a sense we are all citizens of the world. More photos to come.