Thread: Thailand hilltribe people.

A well-deserving issue for Issues.

So the Mon-Khmer are from Cambodia/Laos, with a contingent in Thailand, is that right?

Just for a bit of background info...

Hilltribes Of Northern Thailand


The Hill Tribes people in northern Thailand or Chao Khao, as called in Thai, are nomadic people who have migrated from regions as close as Southern China to as far as the mountains of Tibet. A large extent of their way of life is still based on primitive existence, relying on agriculture as the basis of their livelihood, resorting to slash and burn techniques from time to time. However, such occupation are gradually being replaced by cash crop growing and handicrafts making instead. In general, the Hill Tribes people are enigmatic and charming to visit and learn more about.


Akha Tribe
The Akha hill tribe is located in the Mae Chan region of Chiang Rai, just south of Burmese border. The 30,000-40,000 member population of this tribe has roots traced from the Yunan region in Southern China. They have their own religious beliefs and practises, based somewhat on animism and superstition.

Lahu Tribe
The Lahu hill tribe is located in the Fang region of Chiang Rai, slightly east of Mae Chan close to the border of Burma. The 60,000 members of this village wear unique attire ranging from embroidered tunics and turbans to silver belts and buckles. Similar to the other Hill Tribes, they are spiritually inclined and possess their own set of rites and rituals.

Lisu Tribe
The Lisu people are more of travelers than their hill tribe peers, dwelling in more than half a dozen provinces in north Thailand. It is hard to track the number of their population as their settlements are dispersed throughout the moutains of the north, while many have assimilated into the urban centers.

Meo Tribe
The people of the Meo hill tribe, also called the Hmongs, are spread around the mountains in the northern most provinces of Thailand, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. The term "Meo" has become a sort of collective name Thai people use for describing the hill tribe people in general. Like other hill tribe people, they have their own set of beliefs in spirituality and nature

Karen Tribe
The Karens, known in Thai as the Kariengs, occupy settlements along the north-western border of Thailand. They are probably the best-known among the all the Hill Tribes, due to their previous entanglements and dispute with the Burmese border patrols. Their population numbers between 250,000-300,000 members. They are regarded to be less pre-occupied with rites and religion than their tribal peers.

Yao Tribe
The Yao people are settled along the north-eastern region of Thailand, mainly in the provinces of Phayao, Nan and Chiang Rai. The Yaos distinguish themselves from the rest of tribes people with opulent attire and jewelry, often gold gilded.

Thailand places of attraction -- Hilltribes of Northern Thailand, Akha Hilltribe, Karens Hilltribe, Lahu Hilltribe, Lisu Hilltribe, Meo Hilltribe, Yao Hilltribe

And beyond the border regions there are another heap of tribes all struggling to retain their identity, but don't fit the beaurocratic plan.

Thanks for the list Marmite.

stroller,

Google Khasi and Jaintia for Mon Khmer and Garo for Tibeto Burmese.

Interesting confluence in Assam, India.

Thanks.
So, they come from the West, I got confused by the "Khmer", which refers to language rather than region here.

Khmer tribes are scattered throughout more northerly Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, through Thailand and Burma to India.

They originated in the Western Kunming area of China and all these tribes have similar patterns of weave and have mixed in with other tribes , as did the Mon Khmer, who reached down inyo Burma. They all speak different dialects of Khmer.

A Khasi tribe moved around the foothills of Himalaya westward to Assam and descendants still live in a few villages south of Nepal.

Matriarchy is the rule there.

I am very ignorant here, just heard the Mon and Meo are in the opium trade, while it's mostly Akha who work the fields. Though most tribes switched to coffee, veges and fruits in Thailand.

Don't the tribes live at different altitudes, always the same whereever they are, the Akha being the 'highest' up?

Another great idea for a thread Hilly. Can't geen ya yet... but will.

Do you spend sleepless nights coming up with these/???



E. G.

Re most tribes stay bat a certain altitude level is correct, it is as a result of slah/burn or swiden agiculture.

They are used to cultivating certain crops ie. millet, "job's tears", kumara,(sweet potato) tobacco and other crops that I will refer to later.

Most of these tribes eat grubs and ants and indulge in small bird hunting.

The short jungle bow is a main tool, along with a catapult bow.

Curved knife, called "wait" in Khasia Khmer dialect and use of iron is normal, old indigenous metalllurgy is there.

Benbaa, yes, similarly gutted when I spoke with border people.

The Chin of Burma are referred to in Roman trade as being the first peoples encountered when Roman trading posts in India went beyond the Bay of Bengal across to where Burma is now, trying to get up via foothills of Assam and via 3 pagoda pass to then China, wherefore Chin tribes.

Slightly off-topic, but related to hilltribes:
In the Philippines, one needs to belong to an organised religion in order to obtain a passport - something about birth registrations are only recognised on the grounds of church records confirming or so.
Hilltribe people need to convert if they want to travel or work abroad, since their believes are not recognised as a religion.

On Ajarn a post ref.
Burma,
https://www.youtube.com/watch.

refers to Burmese Karen genocide.

Vhyeckmout Ajarn .com re. above post, in Virtual Pub

The Wa are Mon-Khmer speakers.

There is also a Wa tribe in Assam.

Many tribes split up as they travelled, settling after Euro introduced partition.

Originally Posted by stroller

Slightly off-topic, but related to hilltribes:
In the Philippines, one needs to belong to an organised religion in order to obtain a passport - something about birth registrations are only recognised on the grounds of church records confirming or so.
Hilltribe people need to convert if they want to travel or work abroad, since their believes are not recognised as a religion.

Totally restrictive policy pushed by some of these church groups.

I find that the Catholic Church is by far the most manipulative, the influence they have in the Philipines upon the indigenes, as per your post, is as repressive as the Muslim influence upon Indonesian and Malay tribes where nominal religeon is encouraged to boost dominant cultural claims.

Originally Posted by stroller

Slightly off-topic, but related to hilltribes:
In the Philippines, one needs to belong to an organised religion in order to obtain a passport - something about birth registrations are only recognised on the grounds of church records confirming or so.
Hilltribe people need to convert if they want to travel or work abroad, since their believes are not recognised as a religion.

Some of this native pinoys are called naked people,( guess reason!!) they leave allready as near from Manila as Mindoro Island wich is just a few Km south of Manila, first island south... do not recall local tribe name they have but will find it and post later...

Many but in decreasing number around Asia, Borneo,Indonesia...

Ok, I am confused.

I think that the hilltribe people don't really recognize any borders. But yet the current goverments say that is impossible. There must be borders. Therefore the problems begin.

Is this part of the problem?

There is evidence through cultural exchange of weave /cloth patterns that some of these hil tribes were in contact with migrations from Central Asia.

This reflects on stroller's earlier post re. supposition of a Western origin for some of the Khmer.

The Taklamakhan (Tokarian) culture, which petered out about 800 years ago exhibited textile (cloth/weave) and lingual patterns identical to Scots and Welsh tartans and Welsh "cardan" patterns of weave. The plain check patterns of cloth worn by many wetern SE Asia hilltribes esp. Karen, Mon and Chin are similar to Khasi and Jaintia cloth, extant prior to Euro colonization of the relevant areas.

Twill weave of Taklamakhan was found in exhumed mummies of the area, esp. at Urumchi. Twill is the weave of British tribal tartans, also of denim cloth, suitable to wool short staple fibres.

Cotton check plain weave, but using the same thread count for warp and woof as early Tokarian culture is most common in plant fibre producing areas, such as SE Asian hilltribe territories, where animal fibre was not used.

Linguistic evidence suggests cultural contact between Central Asia and SEbAsia, well before Han Chinese domination of China.

DNA evidence also shows a southerly migration of Central Asians to SE Asia and westward to Britain of the same cloth weaving folk.

Hmong are regarded as the green eyed, red haired, fairer skinned folk of SE bAsia, and are persecuted because of these characteristics.

Appropriate ethnographies of the hill tribe peoples are as yet to be compiled, published, peerr reviewed and ratified due to political considerations, ie., they are not a border defined peoples.

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Ok, I am confused.

I think that the hilltribe people don't really recognize any borders. But yet the current goverments say that is impossible. There must be borders. Therefore the problems begin.

Is this part of the problem?

Yes mate, this is THE problem.

Security issues outlined by western dominated politics and the war FOR drugs/drug control and marketing/use have made hilltribes an easy pawn in the game.

As they are seasonally nomadic and occupy strategic elevation areas to practice swiden (slash & burn) agriculture, they are opportune, as any farmer is, in their choice of crop. So they grow the most economically viable crop, often poppy, it was once tobacco, before that sweet potato, all introduced by travellers.

(More on the origins of these crops and method of introduction later.)

BTW Hillbilly, the potatoes you pictured in your travelogue of the north/Burma look like the golden/yellow kumara or sweet potato. Very yummy!!