| Akha/Igor The Akha are amongst the poorest of the hill tribes in northern Thailand and are known as Igor by the Thai. They originate principally from Yunnan and are related to the Hani there. There are various subgroups including the Yi or Lolo, with a language derived from the Tibetan-Burman linguistic group. They have no written language and depend solely on oral tradition. They began to migrate to Thailand, about one hundred years ago, and like the U Lo and the Loimi (fig.), the other main groups in Thailand, they are originally from Burma.
They usually live high in the mountains where, until recently, they were engaged in the cultivation of opium. After a ban on opium, most of them with government support, turned to other crops. Originally the Akha were an animist people. Their religion, called the Akha Way, consisted mainly of ancestral worship and a belief in spirits. Today almost a quarter of them are converts to Christianity, which is seen as a modern version of the Akha Way and sometimes co-exist with their animist beliefs and ...for more order our CDrom...
Still seen today, is the typical spirit gate (fig.) on each side of an Akha village. It separates the human world from the one of the bush spirits, and protects against them. Each year, at the beginning of the rice planting season, the villagers install new gates and decorate them with several objects to scare away evil spirits. These objects are often valuables or symbols of human wealth, amulets and carvings of naked or copulating humans (fig.); such things are feared by the spirits living in the forest. Typically in Akha villages is a giant wooden swing (fig.) used by the villagers to celebrate the harvest literally by singing and swinging.
The traditional male attire is, nowadays, usually preserved for special festivities, but Akha people are easily recognized by their unique features and physiognomy (fig.). They often wear topknots (fig.) and may occasionally be seen with very particular hats. The female dress is clearly the most impressive amongst the hill tribes, particularly the imposing headdress. From an early age girls wear a colourful bonnet on which ornaments, such as silver coins, coloured fur, shells and beads are added until they reach adulthood. Eventually they are given a helmet type headdress for adult women (fig.) after undergoing several important rites. According to the subgroup they belong to the headdress differs: the Loimi Akha (fig.) wear a hat with silver balls and coins in the front and a silver plate at the back (fig.). The U Lo Akha (fig.) on the other hand wear a conical bonnet with coins and colourful coils of fur, whilst others might have just a scarf.
The calves of the women are cloaked in dark blue puttees and from their waist hangs a short black knee-length skirt, flat in front and pleated at the back. Around the waist they sometimes wear a broad colourful sash, with one end hanging in front of the skirt. A shawl, is sometimes worn with a single ribbon covering the torso from above the breast to the navel (fig.) and on top of this they may wear a long sleeved waist-jacket. The jacket as well as the shawl and leggings are often decorated with ...for more order our CDrom...
With around 265,000 the Karen are the largest hill tribe in Thailand. They have lived in the region for many centuries and are divided into several subgroups, of which the most numerous in Thailand are the Sakoh (Sgaw), Pwo and Kayah, besides the Kayang and Padong, both Long Neck Karen, and the Kayaw, a smaller subgroup whose women are typified by their long earlobes (fig.). The word 'Karen' is not known to the different subgroups themselves and the Thais call them Kariang and Nyang. The term is however generally used by anthropologists when referring to certain tribes who speak closely related tongues but are not closely related to the languages of other hill tribes. They are therefore placed in a separate category within the Tibetan-Burmese family of the Sino-Tibetan language group.
Prince Kawila integrated a large number of them into the local population of Chiang Mai when he re-populated the city. The majority of Karen nowadays lives in Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai, but they are also found in Phrae, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Tak. In Burma there are approximately four million. A considerable number of the Karen are Christian or Buddhist and the first Karen script was developed in 1832 by a Christian missionary in Burma. Karen villages are seldom high in the mountains and the men are often skilled mahouts (fig.). They are also often physically attractive and of a cheerful disposition.
The traditional male attire is usual a red sleeveless shirt with v-shaped neck. The women wear a similar shirt of a darker colour (fig.) over a long red sarong of which the texture indicates to which clan they belong. Young girls wear a long white skirt in a similar shape as the shirt but reaching to the ankles and trimmed with a pink band (fig.). The women belonging to the Long Neck Karen (fig.) wear a similar though shorter version of this girls garment, and on top of a black sarong. The female Long Neck Karen wear blue puttees on their calves, underneath brass rings. They also wear brass rings around their arms and usually have a coloured scarf. Other Karen women usually wear a ...for more order our CDrom...
The Lahu are a hill tribe of whom the majority lives in the northern provinces Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Emigrating from Burma they settled in Thailand around the end of the 19th century. Today they number around 60,000 and live usually in pile dwellings high up in the mountains (fig.). They divide themselves into subgroups named after the main colour of their garment. Besides the Red Lahu (Lahu Nyi), the Yellow Lahu (Lahu Shi) and White Lahu (Lahu Hpu), there are two more subgroups of Black Lahu (Lahu Na), who distinguish themselves by different languages and traditions, with one group calling themselves Laho Na, known to the others as Lahu Shehleh.
The female traditional attire of the Lahu Shehleh or Lahu Na (also called Mussur Dam) is a long black silk-like gown, trimmed with white and sleeves with white, blue and red bands (fig.). The male dress is a black pair of culottes sometimes trimmed with a blue belt. Lahu Nyi women wear a waist-deep jacket sleeved with horizontal bands in namely red and blue. Each subgroup has its own dialect belonging to the Lolo branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language group, of which the standard language is Lahu Na, a language also spoken by most other Lahu people outside Thailand (in Burma, Laos, Vietnam and China) and which is close related to the language spoken by the Lisu.
The Thai name for this people is Mussur and divides into Mussur Daeng (Red Mussur), Mussur Dam (Black Mussur) and Mussur Kwi, of which the meaning is unknown. Because many Lahu are converts to Christianity, the Thai also refer to them as Mussur Khrit (Christian Lahu), although they do worship Ai-ma, the mother goddess of the earth, as well. TO LEXICON.
The Lisu (Liso) are an formerly animist people with a shaman-like veneration of ancestors. There are today around 25,000 Lisu in Thailand and many are converts to Christianity. Their light skin and fair complexion gave them the reputation to be the most beautiful amongst the hill tribes. Until recently the Lisu lived principally from the cultivation of poppies but, after a ban on opium imposed under pressure from the United States, crops were destroyed and many of them became ruined. Most were able to swap to the cultivation of other crops, but practiced slash and burn techniques destroying many acres of forest for just a few crops. To make the same profits as with opium much more land is needed. This in combination with commercial logging causes frequent landslides and floods in the rainy season, whilst overproduction and low prices made the market plummet.
The language of the Lisu belongs to the Yi or Lolo branch of the Tibetan-Burmese language group and probably originated in Tibet, though the core of the population lives mainly in the North of the South-Chinese province Yunnan, west of the Salween river. From this province, translated meaning the 'Land under the Cloud', they spread west, south and eastward and partly entered Thailand around the end of the 19th century AD via Chiang Mai.
The female traditional attire is a loose colourful apron-like skirt, often light green or sky blue, which in front reaches to the knees and in the back to the calves. Its wide sleeves usually reach no further than the lower arm and are often bright red. The top of the skirt is covered with colourful embroidery and around the neck there is a black band ending in coloured stripes, sometimes in bright contrasting colours. Underneath the skirt they wear a wide black pair of culottes reaching to just under the knees, and sometimes they have red puttees around their calves. A waist belt holds the skirt up.
The men wear a loose, bright blue pair of culottes reaching to just below the knees, and a black jacket usually ornamented with silver. They may also wear black puttees. As many other hill tribes the Lisu people play their traditional music on instruments made from natural products, such as bamboo ...for more order our CDrom...
A hill tribe in northern Thailand who are actually called (Iu) Mien, but by the Chinese and Thai named after the language they speak, namely Yao. In Yao language Mien means 'people', but in Laos and Vietnam they are called Man, an old Chinese word for 'barbarian' which also refers to groups other than the Iu Mien. The Yao language is part of the Miao-Yao-Pateng family, a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan language group that also includes Chinese, Burmese and Tibetan. Members of the Iu Mien can often speak Yunnan Chinese, the language spoken in the most southern province of China, or the close related Mandarin. Being able to read and write Chinese has always been held in high respect by the Iu Mien. Their liturgical language is an old form of Chinese, comparable to Pali in Buddhism, and Chinese characters are also used writing Yao.
The Yao migrated to Thailand during the 19th century encouraged by the trade in opium and the retaliation of the Chinese government as a result of local revolt in southern China during that period. They entered Thailand through Laos in the late 19th century and settled in the province Nan, and in what today is called Phayao. Large numbers came after World War II and settled mainly in and around Chiang Rai. Their total number is estimated at around 40,000 and their distinguished religion is a mixture of animism, ancestral worship and Taoism.
The female traditional attire is loose pair of trousers and a dark blue almost black jacket embroidered at the bottom and with a dark red pompom-like collar resembling a stole. Their headdress consists of a dark coloured angular hat, ornamented with embroidery. They often wear a heavy silver ring around their neck and children sometimes have a traditional cap with red pompoms. The male attire consist of a dark blue to black pair of culottes and a loose jacket in the same colour with ...for more order our CDrom...
The Hmong are a hill tribe people (fig.) in northern Thailand who originated in either Tibet or Mongolia, and of whom today around 5 million still live in China where they settled as early as 4,000 years ago. They are called Maew by the Thai and their religion is a mixture of ancestral worship, belief in spirits, and Taoism. Their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language group of the Miao-Yao-Pateng family, with several dialects. They settled in Thailand via Laos more than a century ago and today their numbers is around 90,000 with the Blue Hmong more living in the West, and the Hmong Doew (White Hmong) more in the East of North-Thailand.
The Hmong are in many aspects similar to the Yao or Iu Mien. The Blue Hmong call themselves Hmong Njua, what literally in their language actually means 'Green' Hmong. The women wear a black cotton jacket and black puttees underneath a pleated skirt reaching to the knees and with batik. They have black jackets with an embroidered collar, whilst their hair style is tufted.
White Hmong on the other hand wear a black pair of trousers underneath a long apron hanging over the shoulders to the front and back, and kept together with a red to orange piece of cloth tied around their waist with a silver belt. They also, wear their hair in a tuft or, cover their heads with a small conical hat. From the back of their jackets hangs a large rectangular and colourful piece of cloth, like a flap. Hmong boys and men wear a short black waist-deep jacket with a double cuff, of which the outer one is usually a large embroidered ...for more order our CDrom... |
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