The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand

A couple of days ago, we had the opportunity to visit the area near Chiang Rai where the Hill Tribe people live.  There are several different tribes that live in the area.  All are of Burmese descent.  They are not recognized as Thai citizens even if they are born here.  The Thai government has confined them to living in the hills because these nomadic people have a history of slashing down forested areas so they can farm. Then they would move on after a year or so and burn the land they left behind.  To their way of thinking, they were cleansing the land they were leaving.  In the minds of the Thai people, however, they were destroying the land.  To put a stop to this, the Thai government moved them all to the hills.  In exchange for being allowed to remain in Thailand, clean drinking water and a permanent place to live, the Hill Tribe people have to agree to stay living in the hill area they are assigned.  They cannot leave without possessing a green or yellow card.  A green card allows them to travel into Chiang Rai; yellow allows them to go slightly farther afield. No matter what color card they possess, they must live in the hill area.  If they don’t possess a green or yellow card, the only way they can leave the hills is in the case of a medical emergency, and then their tribal leader has to escort them to the hospital.  

Kit told us a little bit about a few of the different tribes and we met women from a couple of the tribes. Then we went to a craft market where women from various tribes sell their handiwork to help support their families. 

The first tribe is the Akha people.  Fun facts about the Akha: These women wear large headdresses that define their age or marital status.  The women of the Akha tribe do all the work while the men don’t do much of anything at all.  Men and women are not allowed to sleep in the same rooms because it is considered bad luck and will invited bad spirits into the house.  Twins are considered especially bad luck and one or both are usually killed at birth.  Akha women are known for their cross-stitch embroidery skills and make items to sell in the craft market.

The next tribe we learned about is the Yao tribe.  Fun facts:    The women wear long black jackets and pants with amazing scarlet lapels.  They are skilled silversmiths and are renowned for their beautiful silver work.  The women are also known for their amazing embroidery and cross-stitch.  The Yao also farm corn and rice.  

The third tribe is the Longneck Karen Tribe.  Fun Facts:  These women are known for their loom weaving.  They are also known for the heavy brass rings (more than ten pounds’ worth!) that they wear around their necks.  These rings compress their shoulder blades, collar bones and ribs, thus making their necks look longer.  There are several reasons why this is done: (1) to protect them from spirits (2) to protect the women from being grabbed by the neck by a hunting tiger (3) in times past, to make the women unattractive to Burmese soldiers who wanted to take them as concubines, and (4) to enhance their beauty in the eyes of their tribe members.  Girls begin wearing the rings at age five and rings are added over the years as she grows until she wears 22-27 rings.  They wear them 24/7, only taking them off for childbirth or a medical emergency. 

These rings are unbelievably heavy.  And they don’t actually elongate the women’s necks; the extreme weight actually compresses the collar bones, shoulder blades and ribs, giving the appearance of a longer neck. Brenda and I each tried on a half set of rings that is open in the back so tourists can try them on.  And then we were able to hold a full set of rings in our hands.  Most of the women in our group had to use both hands to hold them because they are so incredibly, ridiculously heavy. Talk about a torture device!  And I thought I had neck and back problems.  Oh, my goodness.  And there is no padding under these rings. Just ten tons of weight crushing down on your bones, compressing the daylights out of your skeleton. I don’t have any idea how these women can stand it.  









After meeting the women from all these different tribes, it was time to shop!  This craft market was full of handicrafts made by the different Hill Tribes and shopping there helps to support them.  Far be it from me to not help a sista’ out!

In fact, I think most of us did our parts to help enrich the local economy.

Fun, educational and shoptastic - what more could any girl want?  I’ll tell you in the next post.