A silver curved knife with ivory and silver band handle. The outer layer of the sheath is covered with engraved patterns. When the Kachin used to practice animism this type of knife was used by a special class of people called the dumsa or joiwa (thedumsa wasan animist priest and a professional narrator of Kachin traditional folktales and joiwa was also known as a person who had the highest authority regarding matters of history and tradition). In a traditional festival such as manau, a dumsa is the important ‘ actor’ and performer. Today, since the majority of the Kachins have converted to Christianity, the roles of dumsa and jaiwa, are vanishing.
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