The Lahu history

    The Lahu are a strong independent and very diverse ethnic group who number about 60,000 in Thailand. The Lahu are located primarly in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, but can also be found in considerable numbers as far south as Tak province. Their settlements are usually remote from roads and towns, due to their strong commitment to the maintenance of the Lahu way of life.
          The Lahu are complex and diverse ethnicity. In Thailand there are no fewer than six different Lahu tribes, some of whose languages are not mutually intelligible. The majority of Lahus in Thailand are Red Lahu, pantheistic animists who follow a Dtobo, a messianic leader. There are also a significant number of Black, Yellow and Shehleh Lahus in Thailand, many of whom have been Christian for nearly one hundred years. Black Lahu are the most populous throughout Southeast Asia and theirs is considered to be the standard Lahu dialect.

          Although primarily subsistence farmers, growing rice and corn for their own consumption, the Lahu are also proud of their hunter-warrior heritage. They remain a strict, serious people governed by strong principles of right and wrong, every individual in the village answering to the common will of the elders. While less importance is placed on the extended family than in other hilltribe communities, the Lahu are still strongly committed to principles of unity and working together for survival. Lahus may have the most gender-equitable society in the world.

Lahu new year (Kin Wor)

        "Kor Jao Way" or Kin Wor, the Lahu tribe's New Year festival, is performed after harvest season. They do not specify the exact date, so Lahu's New Year festival would be in February, March or April. Besides, it is not a must that all Lahu villages have to conduct the ceremony at the same time. Before being cooked, black pigs are killed and sacrificed to God, 'Uu Sa', together with glutinous rice mixed with sesame, which is called 'Or Phu' or  Kao Pu.

          'Kor Jao Way' takes 12 days and  is separated to 2 periods, which are 'Koh Luang' or Big Year, women celebrating, and 'Koh Noi' or Small Year, men celebrating. Both of them take 6 days each. Between the first and the second periods, there is a break for 1-2 days. After the break, they dance 'Ka Ker Way' every night until dawn and during the day time, men play top and women play Sa Ba, we use the seeds of a tree, and a ball made from paddy husk.

          In the past the reason why men and woman celebrated seperatly was that Lahu men often had to leave home for many days at a time attending war, trading and hunting, so could not be back home to join 'Kor Jao Way' in time. Nowadays, they still have both 'Koh Luang' and 'Koh Noi', but women and men can celebrate together because they now work closely together.

          During New Year festival, they light up the candles in order to pray for peace and wealth to all villagers. If another village celebrates at the same time, Lahu people will go to visit their neighbour taking pork and 'Or Phu' to make merit and join the ceremony by dancing together in the yard, this is called 'Or Ree The Da Way'. A few days later, the village that has been visited will visit their guests in return.

          Toward the end of the festival Lahu people will make offerings to the 'Wor Tree' a decorated bamboo structure and 'Uu Sa' to pray for health and richness.

Sand and flower Blessing ceremony

(Sae Kor ceremony)  


          Sand sculpture tradition or 'Sae Kor', a tradition of Lahu buddhism, is on 14th April the same period as Thai Songkran Festival. 'Sae Kor' is a tradition to devote a portion of merit to dead animals, which they may of may not kill . Lahu people believe that if they do 'Sae Kor', it can expiate their sins, and also bring richness and peacefulness to them.

          To perform 'Sae Kor', each household has to bring bamboo tubes decorated with flowers, rice, paddy, corn, ginger, sand and a candle. All villagers gather at the center of the village to perform 'Sae Kor'.

Procedures of Sae Kor:                                                                  

Make a hole to stand the decorated bamboo tube in.

Decorate the area to conduct 'Sae Kor' with flowers.

Place seeds at the center.

Then light the candles.

          The shaman or old man reads sacred words to devote a portion of merit to dead animals and apologize to them.

          Moreover, they pray for richness and growth of plants and happiness for all villagers. After this rite, villagers will place sacred seeds at the holy place of the village.  

Hor Yae

        Lahu people respect ancestors, spirit, and God or 'Uu Sa'. Almost every Lahu village has 'Hor Yae', where they have religious ceremonies. 'Hor Yae' is just like the temple in buddhism. It is usually located upland and near the residence of the religious chief or 'Dto Bo'. So, we can say that if you see 'Ho Yae', you see Dto Bo's residence.

Important things in 'Hor Yae'

            The most important thing is the altar table or 'Ka Pa Tae'. It is where 'Uu Sa' communicates with the 'Dto Bo'. A pair of wooden birds, the male, 'Nanabu Ju-ngae' and female, 'Nasi Ju-ngae' are placed close to the water well or 'Li De'. The Lahu believe that these two birds belong to God and they can bring back spirit of the lost one. Twice a month on the 15th, the waxing moon period the 'Dto Do' will fill the 'Li De'. On these days the Lahu stop working and to observe religious precept. They prepare things for making merit and religious ceremony at 'Hor Yae'. Then, they dance 'Poy The Way' or 'Ja Ku'. Lahu people believe that the more they dance, more virtue they get.

Religious Performer

           'Dto Bo', the religious teacher and the means of communication between 'Uu Sa' and the villagers, is the one who prays and reads sacred words. 'Dto Bo' has a duty to tend 'Hor Yae' because he is kind and accepted. To be 'Dto Bo', he would be contacted by God and can communicate with God.

     The Lahu tribe have their own living style which differs to others. They still firmly keep and continue their ancestor's way. We may say that the Lahu tribe is the most constant in their culture and conditions. Lahu people have great respect for their religious chief. They have meetings on every 15th of the waxing moon period and of the waning moon period at "Hor Yae" for religious rites, they expiate sin in the evening, and dance cheerfully into the night.

 

Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center

        Ban Jalae is a traditional Laba Lahu village located in the capital district of Chiang Rai province, twenty-two kilometers from the city of Chiang Rai. Ban Jalae is adjacent to Huay Mae Sai Waterfall and is surrounded by Akha, Lahu, and Mien tribal villages. The villagers of Ban Jalae still practice their traditional beliefs and have a lifestyle rooted in the wisdom accumulated over hundreds of years of surviving in the mountain jungles.

           Similar to most tribal communities in Thailand, however, Ban Jalae is experiencing a rural exodus as restrictions on farming land force families to send their children and young adults to work in the city to make ends meet. Losing this generation to the city produces not only a strain on the social fabric of the village, but also an abrupt discontinuity in the Lahu culture and lifestyle that has been passed down for centuries. Most concerning, Lahu youth working in the city often simply reject all aspects of their culture as 'old fashioned'.
To address the dual problems of cultural erosion and lack of sustainable sources of income near the village, the Mirror Foundation and Ban Jalae chose to create the Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center. This multi-media center powered by solar energy combines displays about traditional Lahu culture, handicrafts and know-how with video presentations that show that the deep and intricate cultures of the tribal peoples in and around Ban Jalae are anything but 'old fashioned'.

          The Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center is very much a community endeavor. All artifacts in the Center come from Ban Jalae and surrounding Akha and Lahu communities, with each home in Ban Jalae donating at least one item. The community also invested six months of labor to construct the four adobe buildings that comprise the Center. The villagers of Ban Jalae have made this investment so that they may not only share their culture with guests to the village, but in hopes that the Center will rekindle among hilltribe youth throughout Thailand an interest in tribal culture that has waned over the past generation.

          The Center would like to thank the Mae Yao Sub-District Administrative Organization, the Chiang Rai Tourism Authority and the generous financial and logistical support of the following:
          The Rockefeller Foundation 
          ILO/IPEC (International Labor Organization)
          SIF (Singapore International Foundation)
          The Virtual Hilltribe Museum @ www.hilltribe.org, A Mirror Foundation Project also supported by the Rockefeller Foundation
          Worcester Polytechnic Institute
          The Mirror Foundation's Hilltribe Eco-tourism Project @ www.hilltribetour.com
Most importantly, we would like to recognize the village of Ban Jalae for its strength and vision.

          The Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center has 3 halls.    Exhibition hall, Presentation hall and Photo and Art Gallery.
         The exhibition hall exhibits kitchenware, cloths and other materials used in daily life from the past until now, and the map of immigration of the hilltribes.
          The presentation hall, shows a VDO presentation of the way of life, and culture of hilltribe groups (Mean or Yao, Akha or Ekor, and Lahu or Muser) in Huay Mae Sai village.

 

Photo and Art Gallery. Exhibition photos of hilltribe children.

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