The Hill Tribes

There are probably a million people living in the hills and mountains of Northern Thailand who are grouped together as the Hill Tribes. There are a dozen different tribes. They have little in common except where they live. They do not share the same life styles, or the same language. They practice different religions. Some are Buddhists, others are animistic and some Christian. In many cases the easiest way to distinguish one tribe from another is from their traditional attire. Many have adapted their lifestyle because of the invasion of the tourists who come trekking into their domain. Others carry on, unaware that the rest of the world has entered the 21st century.

They do share one thing in common and that is they are hospitable people and welcome visitors to their villages. Some have changed their lifestyles now that some, if not all, of their income is derived from the tourist invasion.

Most of them migrated from China, Laos, Myanmar or Tibet within the last 200 years. The major clash they have had with the Thai government is with their agricultural slash and burn techniques and the growing of opium. The campaigns against these items have met with mixed success. Switching from opium growing to less profitable crops meant more land was required, which meant farmers hacked down more of the dwindling forests. And the need for pesticides left much of the area streams polluted.

Five of the main tribal groups are the Karen (called Gariang in Thai), the most populous tribe, the Akha, (Egaw in Thai), the Lahu (Musay in Thai), Hmong (Meo in Thai) and Lisu (Lisaw in Thai).

Karen

By far the largest hill tribe, numbers vary from 200,000 to half million. Their migration began in the 18th century and most of their villages are in the foothills below the mountains of Mae Hong Son province and the western areas of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phayao along the border with Myanmar. Dress: Single girls wear white V-necked long blouses, adorned with decorative beads while married women normally wear bold red or blue blouses with similar colored skirts. Baggy blue trousers are the choice for the men with a masculine version of the married women’s tops. Karens live in bamboo homes that are built on stilts, allowing them space below to keep their animals: pigs, chickens and even buffalo. Many families keep elephants. They were traditionally used to help with forest work but now spend more time helping tourists trek around. Karens are famous for their skill as elephant trainers, or mahouts, and you’ll find them sitting atop elephants all over Southeast Asia. Originally the tribe was animistic and practiced ancestor worship but in recent years many have been converted to Christianity by the influx of western missionaries.

Karens are good farmers with proper crop rotation and have nothing to do with opium. They have high moral standards and there was a time when adultery was punished by death. They are probably the most peaceful and accommodating of the tribes but they do give border guards a problem, since they do not recognize any border and wander when and where they want to.

Akha

The most retiring, as in timid, the Akha tribe has been the least affected by tourism and missionaries. Dress: The women’s headgear is heavily decorated with an assortment of beads and silver jewelry and topped with curls of red fabric. Their oversized jackets are equally ornate, with boldly embroidered edges.

The Akhas began their migration to Thailand from Southern China in the early 1900s and there are thought to be 40,000 of them now in remote village along the mountain ridges of both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. They originated in Mongolia.

Ancestor worship – most tribal members can recite 65 generations of family – ancestors and animism are a very important part of their life. Every August each village has a celebration around a large swing when offerings are made to spirits and ancestors are remembered.

Lahu

There are about twice the number of Lahu as Akhas in Thailand, most of them living in villages close to the Burmese border. Originally hunters, the tribe has adapted to farming and has replaced its opium operations with a wide range of items, including orchids and coffee. Dress: Many of the tribe now wear normal Thai clothes but you occasionally see woman in their traditional black cloaks with white stripes. The tribe originated in Tibet and then to southern China before moving on to Myanmar and Thailand. There has been a large conversion to Christianity but the unconverted still believe in spirits and worship in village temples.

Hmong

They say it takes all sorts. These people are totally different from the Karens. Most of them arrived in the 1950s and 1960s to escape the civil war in Laos. Thais refer to them as Meo, meaning barbarian. They have different moral standards from the Karen, allowing premarital sex and trial marriages. Brides’ dowries are not paid until after the trial period. Dress: There are two major divisions and numerous clans within the tribes. The Blue Hmong mainly dwell west of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. These women wear their hair in large buns and don vivid blue pleated costumes. Again it is baggy black pants for the men, with embroidered jackets that fasten with a button on the left shoulder. The White Hmong keep themselves to the east of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. These women wear home-made hemp skirts and plain jackets with frilly blouses. The men dress much as their fellow tribesmen, often adding a colorful sash around the waist. The tribe believes that silver is good for the spirits and the women wear chunky jewelry every day, including wide neck bands, which they claim keep the good spirits inside.

The Hmong live in extended families. They originated in the cold regions of Mongolia and Tibet and then moved on to China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Tradition was that the men, who were mostly slash-and burn-farmers, did all the income-producing work, but with the cutting back of that style of agriculture and the outlawing of the opium crop, many have stopped working and rely on their women to provide income from the sale of handicrafts. Their hemp fabric is produced with an attractive sheen and then dyed, and is sold at many markets. There is a high rate of opium addiction among the men.

Lisu

Originally from eastern Tibet, the Lisu migrated through Myanmar into Thailand during the 1920s. Dress: Both men and women dress colorfully. Men wear baggy pants in an assortment of colors with blue jackets, and the women have multi-colored long tunics with a broad black belts and blue or green pants. The tribe is animistic rather than Buddhist; sacrifices of cockerels are part of their religious practice. Witch doctors heal their sick and they have a great belief in fortune telling. Funerals differ, according to how you died. If it was a natural death then burial takes place in the family burial field. If the death was caused by a bad spirit then the body is cremated so that the spirit will not be passed along to future generations. Unlike Thais, the Lisu do not believe in keeping spirit houses outside their homes, which have long sloping roofs that reach close to ground level.