Akha Appliqué and Forest Ceremony

Alas, it was time to leave. After the mother-in-law of the village head showed me the beautiful appliqué work she was working on to form a pair of leggings, we thanked everyone for their hospitality and moved onward.

 On the way back to Chiang Rai, Tee stopped at a nearby village where he showed me an altar that had been constructed as part of a forest ceremony. Accompanied by the symphony of cicadas, the ceremony had recently been performed to honor the forest spirits and ask them for protection. Despite the conversion of many Akha to Christianity, traditional beliefs and/or practices still are present.

In the forest, Tee captured one cicada and demonstrated how loudly just one single insect could “sing” with their timbals. It was amazing how much quieter the symphony was with just one of its members momentarily silenced; I had incorrectly envisioned thousands of cicadas all joining in the song. Tee’s own family enjoyed eating cicadas. During February through April, the children would collect this delicacy, using gum-tipped poles to lance the insects and collect between 1-3 kg (2.2-6.6 pounds) per day. 

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A Walk Through Doi Chaang Village

Before we left Doi Chaang, I had a chance to walk through a bit of this hillside village. Homes were very close to each other, with no apparent delineation between where one yard ended and the other began. Most of the homes were built out of wood with a sloped roof constructed of straight or corrugated metal. Some roofs were of a similar style, but constructed of thatch. Windows were small and sparse; many were still shuttered from the night. Tall stilts (some were rectangular columns made out of concrete while others were out of wood) permitted one part to be level with the road and the other to overlook the steep hillside. To get to the main level, one might have to climb a set of wooden (or bamboo) stairs. On the lower stilt level, one portion was often enclosed, with the other open for storage, a place to sit under, etc. Chickens ran freely through the dirt around the homes and onto the steep road. Children played a form of hopscotch on the quieter roads. The dirt around the plastic piping faucet in the yard was wet, with water recently gathered for washing or cooking. Chilies and what looked like halves of bananas dried in shallow woven platters on some rooftops.

Trucks and motorcycles maneuvered their way up and down the steep, winding roads. Vendors also took advantage of the versatile motorcycle, loading woven bags with vegetable, fruits, and bamboo-filled sticky rice. Women carried children tied to their backs with a piece of cloth, just as they had done in West Africa. Some men were already heading up the hill with tools used for the field. Most men, though, gathered on the porches, sipping tea, chewing paan, and engaging in lively discussions.

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The Beauty of Black Teeth

At the Akha village, I noticed that most of the older adults had black teeth. I presumed this was due to the habit of chewing paan (easily noticed by the very red tongue, masticating, and occasional spitting). At the Hill Tribe museum back in Chiang Rai, I learned that this was a sign of beauty. The practice of dyeing one’s teeth black is quite old and is practiced in various parts of Asia. It actually helps prevent dental decay, similar to modern sealants.

For more information about the Akha, visit http://www.akha.org/

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Akha Coffee and tribe poverty

From there, we walked on a dirt road slanting downward to a neighboring house. Here we saw the cement tanks used to soak and wash the coffee beans. On a large tarp a late batch of coffee was drying – whose late stage typically signifies inferior quality. Here we sampled some of their coffee and cracked open some macadamia nuts. On the way up the hill, Tee pointed out some of the bamboo huts, explaining that many of the Akha are still poor. In fact, many Akha and other hill tribes in Thailand still lack an identity card, making it difficult to receive governmental services! We headed back down the steep cemented main road to the village head’s home and had a breakfast similar to all the other meals. Tea, of course, was plentiful.

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Akha Village Swing

Up the embankment from the gate was the famous Akha swing. The swing consisted of four thinner tree trunks tied together at the top, sort of like a tepee. Near the top I could see the inner tube swing, its rope now securely tied around one pole. According to an Akha myth, humans came down from heaven through the swing. This swing is used for four days during a festival occurring 120 days after the village has planted its rice. It celebrates the hard work just expended on weeding the rice and tending to other crops. During the festival, villagers of all ages swing fast and high.

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Akha Village Gate

While breakfast was being prepared, Tee and I went for a short walk. He first took me to the wooden entry gate of the village. Along the top beam and the top parts of the side beams were woven snowflake-like designs – protection symbols. Next to the gate were statues of two couples – one out of cement and the other out of wood, now very weathered and split. The male figure had an enlarged genitalia. These figures represented the original Akha male and his female partner, a forest dwelling creature whom he brought back to be his wife. The gate was built by the male to help the female understand the delineation between the forest and village. This gate and two figures are found at the entrance of every Akha village. Songs are sung as the people pass through the gate, receiving protection from the snowflake like designs.

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A Doi Chaang Village Welcome

Just before sunset we arrived at Doi Chaang Village. Meaning “Elephant Village,” Doi Chaang got its name from its elephant-shaped hill. We were to stay at the village head’s house, a typical custom for any guests of to the village. Immediately the wife of the village head and other members of the family began preparing a meal for all. A few more plastic chairs were added to the small table under the overhang. Shortly after we were seated, the meal of rice, pork, greens, bamboo shoots, chilis, and ground soybeans with chilis. Before we began the meal, the mother-in-law, dressed in traditional Akha headgear, presented me with a still-warm hard-boiled egg and tied white embroidery floss around my wrist. This traditional gesture signified welcoming of a guest and wishing them prosperity.

Thin mattresses were laid out for the guests, covered with character bedsheets and a “Hello Kitty” quilt. Through the thin wooden walls, I could easily hear the satellite TV, being watched by the village head’s boys. In the adjoining area, men discussed matters, including how to deal with the skyrocketing prices of property in the village. Finally the sounds died down and I was able to sleep.

Long before it was light outside, roosters once again competed for crowing the loudest. Morning light peeked through the slits in between the wood boards and around the window. Certainly not winter-proofed! From the outside kitchen, I could hear the pounding of a wooden pestle. Over a fire was a large wok. Even the boys were helping out. Once again we were served cups of obligatory local tea.

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Arrival at Lisu tribe festival

The next morning after more rice, greens, dried soybeans, and of course more tea, we said goodbye to our hosts and moved onward into the hills. Tee’s father came along, as he wanted to visit some relatives and friends in the hill village. On the way, we stopped to pick up a village resident friend of Tee’s father. Both older individuals shared a fondness of chewing paan, had their teeth blackened, and talked animatedly in the Akha language.

On the way to the Akha village Tee spotted a cloth sign fluttering in the breeze that promoted an annual festival of the Lisu hill tribe people. Able to speak some Lisu, he was able to inquire of some Lisu people walking alongside the road that the festival was indeed happening today. It was the last day of the three-day festival, but there should be some things going on. Traveling on a narrow hilly dirt road, we passed by some trucks with Lisu people in the truck bed who were traveling away from the festival location. Tee explained that some Lisu people would have traveled for over five hours to attend the festival, with some perhaps even coming from Burma (Myanmar). Yesterday, over 3,000 Lisu were in attendance. The school grounds in the village of Ban Doi Lan (meaning “million mountains”) was the site of the festival. Tee introduced me to one Lisu woman who spoke fairly good English. She was one of the organizers of the festival and saw it as a key opportunity to celebrate and promote the Lisu culture. Like Tee, she expressed a concern for the disappearance of her culture and language. One of her ambitions involved utilizing the internet as a tool for educating others about the Lisu culture and as a way for Lisu people to keep in touch with each other.

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First Night in an Akha Village

On the first night of my hill tribe tour, I stayed at the family home of Tee, the man from the Akha tribe who was taking me around. His village of Kong pa Kam (meaning “hot spring”) was located about 40 km south of Chiang Rai. About 98 families (Akha hill tribe) lived in the village. Tee’s parents, brother, and the brother’s family lived in the house. The front of the house looked more finished and modern (even had a hot shower, computer and TV). The kitchen was dark, made of cement, and very simple. Cooking was mainly over a fire with ashes. Several women helped prepare the meal, which included some greens, rice, fish, bamboo shoots, fresh chili peppers, mangoes, watermelon, ground dried soybeans with chilies, and pork soup with greens. Eating was done with chopsticks; I’m not sure what I feel more awkward with – eating with my fingers (India) or with chopsticks (Thailand). Later we had tea over a campfire, whose heat source came partly from bamboo pieces. The fire felt rather nice in the cool evening as we sat on low stools whose seats were woven out of bamboo strips by Tee’s father. In the open-air bamboo structure right next to the fire, one could see the large stack of woven chicken egg-laying baskets Tee’s father was making for a large order. Only when it got too dark did Tee’s father stop cutting and preparing bamboo strips that would be used for more baskets.

On the farm they had many chickens (the roosters crowed incessantly, which was particularly not welcomed in the wee hours of the morning). A large bamboo open-air shed was ready for several pigs, but none were in the pens at the moment. Various crops were grown. Tee pointed out the grapes (for eating) fields in the distance. In a simple shed there was a tractor and a truck.

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