“Kho’ Jao We” or “Prapheni Kin Wo” (ประเพณีกินวอ)
A New Year Celebration in a Lahu Nyi(1) community
A few weeks ago a Lahu friend proposed me to join the Lahu New Year Celebration or “Kho’ Jao We”(2) in Ban Nam Chang from 18 to 25 February 2021. First I planned to stay throughout the whole duration of the New Year festivities, but unfortunately at the last time, I had some obligations. So I missed the first 3 days with all the preparative for the New Year and some essential activities and rites including slaughter of black pigs, confection of traditional glutinous rice cakes, erection of the New Year Tree, etc.
The road from Pai to Ban Nam Chang
On Sunday 21 February, late morning, I left Pai to Ban Nam Chang (บ้านน้ำจาง), a small Red Lahu village in the far-flung reaches of the Mae Hong Son Province. To get there I took the same road to go to Doi Tai Laeng, R1095 + R1226, via Pang Ma Pha, Ban Ja Bo, and Ban Mai Lan, about 82 km far from Pai. The two military checkpoints were not a problem, I was a lucky, very easy crossing. Every time I enjoy driving or riding the R1226, the landscape is spectacular (especially in the rainy season) with beautiful viewpoints. Most of the villages are inhabited by Red Lahu and Tai Yai people and are still very typical.
Road to Ban Nam Chang
A few kilometers after Ban Mai Lan, I left the main road to fork off to the left and take a steep single-track road (half paved/half dirt with sharp curves) descending to Ban Nam Chang. Welcomed by a lovely bouquet of young Lahu women, I was, after the presentations to my friend’s family, immediately invited to join the New Year's festivities.
Welcomed by a lovely bouquet of young Lahu women...
That was the fourth day of the New Year Celebration in Ban Nam Chang. My friend explained to me this day was the “Wan Dam Hua”(3) day, similar to a blessing day where representative members of every household carry offerings (food, cakes specially made for this occasion “O Phu”(4), money) and water to every other household with which they wash the hands of the master and mistress of the house who, in return, offer their blessings for a healthy and prosperous New Year and tie cotton threads around their wrists.
"O Ri Te Kha’ We”
After visiting some relatives' and friends' houses and witnessing the water and blessings ritual, the rest of the day was spent drinking and eating here and there… The Lahu New Year festivities, as elsewhere in Thailand, is the occasion for gathering, drinking, eating, talking, joking all day and night. While kids are playing with firecrackers, young people and adults gather together to eat and drink, going from house to house, everyone joining a party wherever they want, every household is pleased to welcome family, relatives, and friends.
The sun was setting slowly over the village and Nam Chang Valley, the darkness covered the festivities (the village of Ban Nam Chang has no electricity), from small spots of pale light scattered here and there came the sounds of laughter, discussions, and glasses clashing, in the dawning night resounded the music of the latest fashion Lahu songs, the whistling of rockets and the detonation of firecrackers.
New Year's Tree, “Hk’aw’ Ceh” in Lahu
Shortly after 7:00 p.m., my friend tells me that a ritual ceremony was being prepared in the central square. I saw people, mainly women(5), gathering in an arc around the New Year's Tree(6) in the center of the village and each holding a bottle of water in their hands. My friend's father was the officiant (as priest or religious leader of the village)(7), he lit like a candle standing in the center under the altar and recited an invocation, then the whole assembly rose to come and pour the contents of the bottles around the candle (where they dig a circular hole) in a propitiatory rite(8). Once the bottles had been emptied, everyone returned to their banquet...
Lahu New Year Water Ritual
All that remained were children playing in the central square and a few old people sitting around fires here and there. Shortly after a man arrived, he presented himself in front of the south side of the altar, took the instrument out of his bag (a reed pipe), made a greeting to the spirits by raising it above his head, and started to play alone, then perambulating in an alike chassé dance step around the New Year Tree. At the sound of the “Nor Sue Lae”(9), the children ran up and began to dance with the man, imitating or trying to follow his dancing figure. Then came to join the groups of dancers elder people, and later the younger. Everyone, young, old, elderly, dressed in their magnificent Lahu festive finery, took pleasure in this traditional gesture come straight from another age. It was fascinating to see the whole village gathered in the central square, taking full part in this choreography that only they understood(10).
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 1 (reed pipe)
I stayed up late, for several hours, watching these people dancing, fascinated by this rustic farandole, these light, and enchanted woman shadows, these men jumping and stamping their feet cheerfully, it looked like a medieval circle dance, a kind of “Saint Vitus Dance” to exorcise I do not know what kind of evil...
I saw this dance during my first trip in Thailand in 1980, in a Lahu village somewhere in the Chiang Mai province, that marked me, men playing reed pipe with sharpish and throbbing sounds, swinging on their feet on one side and then on the other on a syncopated rhythm not easy to follow, without really having any rules, according to their inspiration, giving the dance pace and step that the other dancers had to follow, inebriated by both music and rice wine... Since then this dance has always remained in my memory. And last night I watched it again, more than 40 years later, and I relived the same magical moment, carried away by the joyous frenzy of these Lahu people…
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 2 (reed pipe)
Festivities continued late into the night, filled with dancing, singing, and drinking. The haunting sound of Reed pipes was followed by the bewitching beat of drums, gongs, and cymbals, and later the threnody of traditional Lahu songs. The village fell asleep late at night, the dawn was already beginning to break behind the still and silent mountains.
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 3 (drums, gongs, and cymbals)
This morning in Ban Nam Chang was a real magical moment. The sky was so clear and the air so fresh, a huge contrast with Pai where the air condition is so bad, it was like a call, a call of nature, a call of the mountains, it was irresistible, just what I needed, a morning walk… I spent 2 hours walking around the village, and when I came back everyone in the house was already awake and busy with the daily housework and tasks, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the little ones… the Lahu are one of the most egalitarian societies between men and women who equally share the daily tasks at home and in the fields. Everyone participates without gender discrimination in all the activities and work of the family and the community.
The village of Ban Nam Chang in the morning light
The normal way of life of Lahu is based on self-sufficiency. Prior to prepare and cooking food, they go to collect vegetables in the backyard. Here in Ban Nam Chang, land is very fertile and they have water all year round. They grow all the vegetables they need, they also have orange, lemon, and avocado orchards. They eat mountain rice from their crops and meat, raise pigs and chickens, or practice hunting. Everyone in the family joins together to clean the house and prepare meals, then they sit and eat together, talk, and have fun. It is an easy way of life which everyone should come to learn to find the original meaning of existence.
Everyone in the family joins together to prepare meals
My friend told me, during the last day of the New Year celebration(11), people of Ban Nam Chang visit the other surrounding Lahu villages, they bring gifts and offerings (cooked pork meat, glutinous rice cakes, water) to give to their neighbors and friends, perform merit-making rituals and pay respect to the elders with pouring water on their hands and asking for blessing, before returning to their village. Then, later in the same day, people of other villages come to their village to do the same ritual(12). She said normally all the villages of the area come to meet up in Ban Nam Chang at the end of the day, they have a big party and they dance together around the New Year Tree all night round. But this year, due to the New Normal Politic, this event has been canceled.
On the way back to Pan Ma Pha, I took another road through the mountains, which I personally consider one of the most beautiful and breathtaking roads in Mae Hong Son Province. I would have liked to take some photos but I was following another vehicle which generated a lot of dust. Approaching Ban Pha Phueak, a Lahu village, I saw small shelves made with wood and bamboo erected along the road, decorated with color papers and holding lighted candles and food offerings inside, and a bigger construction made of leaves and looking like a shelter. I was accompanied by a young couple and their kid that I took from Ban Nam Chang to Ja Bo. They said to close the New Year Celebration Lahu perform a last ritual in order to expel negative things and bad luck from the village(13). The ceremony just took place, we passed groups of people walking back to the village. In the courtyard of a house, young people and kids were playing with water, splashing each other, likewise people play for Songkran, the Thai New Year… I felt a bit frustrated, there are so much to discover and learn, and I missed a lot… next year will come back, wonderful Red Lahu people!!!
…/…
Notes
1. Lahu Nyi or Red Lahu, also called Mousseu Daeng in Thailand (Red Mousseu). Mousseu is a shan word meaning hunter, the Lahu are known for being great and skillful hunters.
2. The New Year, “Kho’ Jao We”, is by far the most important period in the annual ritual cycle of the Lahu Nyi communities. It is a multi-day event including playing games, sacrificing pigs, mixing and distributing food, reciting ritual texts, pounding sticky rice into cakes, making beeswax candles, shooting off fireworks, building ceremonial tree and performing traditional dances. Labor is forbidden for the entire duration of the new Year period, and families have plenty of time to visit and bring gifts to their neighbors and neighboring villages. Communities also must plan the agricultural cycle accordingly and complete the harvest before the official start of the festivities and visitations. The ritual aspect and surrounding activities may vary according to the villages and communities. The date of the New Year is not fixed and may also vary by villages, communities or areas. It falls during the 4th and 5th lunar months of the North Thai calendar, between December and February, quite often around the Chinese New Year. However, some Lahu villages in Thailand organize the New Year Celebration in March, during school holidays, in order to allow everyone to come and participate in the event (as I have noticed this year in Pang Ma Pha District). The Lahu New Year is therefore divided into two distinct periods: the “Female New Year”, called “Kho' Luang” (เขาะหลวง) or “Pi Yai” (ปีใหญ่), which lasts approximatively 6 days, normally followed 12 days later by the “Male New Year”, called “Kho’ Noi” (เขาะน้อย) or “Pi Lek” (ปีเล็ก), which also lasts approximatively 6 days. If we take into account the ceremonies done before and after, the New Year's celebration and festival last for almost a month. As the religious leaders of the villages choose the dates so that the celebrations of the Female and Male New Years end on an auspicious day, the period of 12 days between the 2 celebrations may vary as I observed in Ban Nam Chang where this year only 1 day separated the two events and people told me they didn’t know about these 12 days rule, they take more into account the end date of each New Year which must be a propitious day. The Women's New Year is a time of enjoyment and where most of the celebrations take place, unlike the Male New Year where nothing happens except a few rituals. Villages grouped together in the same area celebrate the New Year at the same time. It is an opportunity to reaffirm the links that unite the villagers to each other and the village to the supernatural world. Everyone puts on new clothes and the young people embellish theirs with silver ornaments. Firecrackers and gunshots echoed throughout the village, the Lahu hoping to attract G’ui Sha's attention, the supreme deity. They play, have a lot of fun and dance every night…
3. “Wan Dam Hua” (วันดำหัว), “Wan” means “day", “Dam Hua” (ดำหัว) is a Northern Thai expression and means “pour water on the head”, especially for New Year celebration. Here for Lahu people this ritual act, called “O Ri Te Kha’ We”, was said to symbolize younger people’s respect for their elders and the elders’ concern for the youngsters, while simultaneously demonstrating the solidarity of the village community.
4. “O Phu” is pounded steamed glutinous rice with sesame shaped into a round ball similar to “Khao Puk” (ข้าวปุ๊ก) in Thai and be used as an offering to the god G'ui Sha.
5. It appears that the Water Rituals is more a ceremony performed by women than men but here, in Ban Nam Chang, men participated in this ritual.
6. New Year's Tree, “Hk’aw’ Ceh” in Lahu or “Ton Wo” in Thai (ต้นวอ).
7. In Thailand the overwhelming majority of Lahu Nyi follow a traditional ideology of the supernatural world which includes belief in the existence of a great number of spirits, generically termed ”Ne“. Most important of these guardian spirits are the ”Yeh Ne” or house spirit, sometimes called ”Ne Lon“ the great spirit, who is said to protect the village. Besides the spirits, the Lahu Nyi believe in a supreme and creating divinity called ”G’ui Sha“. The crucial ideological distinction which Lahu Nyi make between ”G’ui Sha“ and the ”Ne“ is reflected in the ritual organization of many villages where the offices of priest and spirit specialist are quite distinct. Priests mediate between the people and ”G’ui Sha“, the most important of these priests is called the ”To Bo Pa” or ”Keh Lu Pa”. He is the intermediary between the villagers and ”G’ui Sha“, his principal concern is to lead the villagers in worshiping ”G’ui Sha“ and directs the ceremonies dedicated to him. The office of priest, of whatever grade, is always held in higher esteem than that of spirit specialist (shaman) called “Ne Te Sheh Hpa” or “Maw Pa” who is the intermediary between the village and the spirits. In addition, Lahu Nyi villages are led by headmen called ”Hka' Sheh Hpa“ (Sheh Hpa means master and Hka’ village), or "Kae Ban" whose authority is supported or modified by the village elders and ritual practitioners.
8. Water ritual is performing in various ceremonies throughout the year, from every household a female representative brings her own vessel of water and pours some into the common vessel. This mixing of water symbolizes the unity of the village community. Water is regarded as a very important matter because for the Lahu water is sacred and a symbol of good luck and happiness. There is little wonder, therefore, that Lahu associates water with a particularly significant spirit entity, the “I Ka Law Ne” spirit of waters and streams/rivers. One of the activities observed at the Lahu New Year celebration is "Competing for New Water". Each family picks a member to run to a certain spring to fetch the "New Water." It is regarded as a very important activity. The one who first gets the "New Water" brings a rich harvest of grains and fruits and good luck for his or her family. Therefore, in the early morning of New Year's Day, when a cock heralds the break of day, every family's representative member rushes to the spring to get the "New Water." After the water is brought back home it is first offered to ancestors as an act of worship, and then given to the elderly for washing their faces. However, the Lahu of Ban Nam Chang do not seem to know this tradition, in any case they compete for “New Water”.
9. “Nor Sue Lae” or Lahu reed pipe, a kind of wind musical instrument with free reed and belonging to the Khene family. “Nor Sue Lae” is a very important musical instrument for ritual and festival of Lahu ethnic group.
10.During the Lahu New Year Festival, every village holds the traditional circle dance “Ja Khoe” (ca khui) to pay homage to the New Year Tree and the god “G’ui Sha" whom they ask for giving beneficence, protection, love, and happiness to their village, good health for all of them all year round, abundant harvest with beautiful rice and water for crops and for their use. Everyone, old and young, man and or woman, wearing their best festival clothes, take part in this ritual dance. They gather in the center of the village or in a clearing with 1 or 2 men or more playing the “Nor Sue Lae” (reed pipe) and leading the dance. Women and men, then, join their hands and form a circle around, dancing, screaming, and shouting for joy, to the beat of the music. In some places, the “Ja Khoe” dance can be very big with several or even dozens of men in the center playing the “Nor Sue Lae”. As a group dance, the Lahu dance is very colorful and dance moves are adapted from their way of life. Some dances represent their working chores such as Rice Dance called “Ja Khoe We” (จ่าเกอะเว), Harrow Dance called “Hae Pho We” (แฮพ้อเว), Spinning Dance called “Sa Lao We" (ส่าลาวอเว); others imitate the movements and gestures of animals that the Lahu, known as a tribe of hunters, have met in the mountain and forest, such as Flying Bird Dance called “Ngae’ Poi Te We” (แงะปอยเตเว), Flying Bee Dance called “Hae Sa Pae Wu Re We” (แฮส่าแป้วูเรเว), Deer Dance called “Hae Nu Lo Ka To We” (แฮนูลอกาต่อเว), etc.; or applying the dance according to their beliefs such as the God Dance called ”G’ui Sha Poi Te We“ (อื่อซาปอยเตเว). Because of its delicacy and passion, it is the most favored dance of the Lahu people who dance all night until the morning, alternating dances accompanied by the “Nor Sue Lae” and dances accompanied by the drums (called “Ja Khu"), gongs and cymbals.
11. I don’t know which last day, of the Female or Male New Year.
12. This reciprocity ritual is exactly the same ritual as “O Ri Te Kha’ We” but performed at the inter-community level between Lahu villages of the same area. The ritual perfectly reflects the traditional social custom of gift and counter-gift, and it is fully integrated into the Lahu New Year’s function, the purpose of which is to maintain the village solidarity, inter-village solidarity, household harmony, gender equality, and spirit world connection. There are plenty of significance for the symbolic solidarity practiced by ritual acts of “mixed rice” where each villager brings a handful of rice to a central container and “mixed water” where, again, each household brings one container (bamboo joint or bottle) of water to pour into a central vessel.
13. “Mae Djo We“ or “Pithi Lai Phi” (พิธีไล่ผี) en Thai. On this occasion, Lahu build merit shelters and altars dedicated to “G’ui Sha" and spirits, decorated with color paper streamers attached to bamboo sticks (where red is a particularly appropriate color for the spirits and white is the color for “G’ui Sha"), along the pathway to their village. Later every household brings food offerings, light beeswax candles that they place on each offering receptacle for the spirits, and “G’ui Sha". Once all these are alight, the priest prays, to the accompaniment of drum, gong, and cymbals, address the local guardian spirit, and asks him to create blessings or merit in exchange for the offerings which the village community has provided. He asks the spirit to watch over the workers in the fields and protect the crops from wild animals, and he requests that the supply of food and drink may never be exhausted, and praying to the same spirit as keeper of all the wild animals in the area, the priest requesting that the villagers may enjoy success in the hunt. The guardian spirit of the locality having thus been propitiated, the priest turns his attention to “G’ui Sha”, the highest of all super natural beings whom the Lahu recognize, prays and offers the shelter and its contents to “G’ui Sha". After the prayer, all partake of the food which the women have spread out in the shelter. When all have eaten, the villagers tie cotton string around each other’s wrists. This wrist-binding rite symbolizes the passing of blessings from one person to another. The people say it also stresses the unity of the village community. It is not necessary for everybody to bind everyone else’s wrist, but the elders of the community are especially requested to bind the wrists of their juniors in order to pass on to them their blessings. The wrist-binding rite finished, the whole ritual sequence is at an end and the villagers set off for home. The merit shelter will be used as a place of temporary rest by the Lahu villagers themselves and by anyone else traveling along that pathway until it falls down after a year or two.
Information sources
The above information and details come from the works and researches of the following authors:
Anthony R. Walker
Hans J. Spielmann
Jaquetta Hill, Nannaphat Saenghong, and Kate Grim-Feinberg
Benjamin Stuart Fairfield
Philipp Schiess
Shanshan Du
Sanit Wongsprasert
Jean-Claude NEVEU
Amber Morris
ธนพชร นุตสาระ
More photos:
R1226, stunning landscape
R1226, village of Ban Huai Hia
R1226, village of Pang Kham (start of the road to Doi Tai laeng, Shan State)
Ban Nam Chang surroundings
Ban Nam Chang surroundings
Ban Nam Chang South entrance
Ban Nam Chang, the main road
Lahu small girls
Lahu small girls
Sunset over Nam Chang valley
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Vegetable morning collect
Vegetable morning collect
Vegetable morning collect
Lahu modern kitchen
Lahu women preparing food for morning meal
Preparation of food for morning meal
Traditional kitchen using firewood in a Lahu home
Morning meal
A New Year Celebration in a Lahu Nyi(1) community
A few weeks ago a Lahu friend proposed me to join the Lahu New Year Celebration or “Kho’ Jao We”(2) in Ban Nam Chang from 18 to 25 February 2021. First I planned to stay throughout the whole duration of the New Year festivities, but unfortunately at the last time, I had some obligations. So I missed the first 3 days with all the preparative for the New Year and some essential activities and rites including slaughter of black pigs, confection of traditional glutinous rice cakes, erection of the New Year Tree, etc.
The road from Pai to Ban Nam Chang
Road to Ban Nam Chang
Welcomed by a lovely bouquet of young Lahu women...
That was the fourth day of the New Year Celebration in Ban Nam Chang. My friend explained to me this day was the “Wan Dam Hua”(3) day, similar to a blessing day where representative members of every household carry offerings (food, cakes specially made for this occasion “O Phu”(4), money) and water to every other household with which they wash the hands of the master and mistress of the house who, in return, offer their blessings for a healthy and prosperous New Year and tie cotton threads around their wrists.
"O Ri Te Kha’ We”
The sun was setting slowly over the village and Nam Chang Valley, the darkness covered the festivities (the village of Ban Nam Chang has no electricity), from small spots of pale light scattered here and there came the sounds of laughter, discussions, and glasses clashing, in the dawning night resounded the music of the latest fashion Lahu songs, the whistling of rockets and the detonation of firecrackers.
New Year's Tree, “Hk’aw’ Ceh” in Lahu
Lahu New Year Water Ritual
All that remained were children playing in the central square and a few old people sitting around fires here and there. Shortly after a man arrived, he presented himself in front of the south side of the altar, took the instrument out of his bag (a reed pipe), made a greeting to the spirits by raising it above his head, and started to play alone, then perambulating in an alike chassé dance step around the New Year Tree. At the sound of the “Nor Sue Lae”(9), the children ran up and began to dance with the man, imitating or trying to follow his dancing figure. Then came to join the groups of dancers elder people, and later the younger. Everyone, young, old, elderly, dressed in their magnificent Lahu festive finery, took pleasure in this traditional gesture come straight from another age. It was fascinating to see the whole village gathered in the central square, taking full part in this choreography that only they understood(10).
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 1 (reed pipe)
I stayed up late, for several hours, watching these people dancing, fascinated by this rustic farandole, these light, and enchanted woman shadows, these men jumping and stamping their feet cheerfully, it looked like a medieval circle dance, a kind of “Saint Vitus Dance” to exorcise I do not know what kind of evil...
I saw this dance during my first trip in Thailand in 1980, in a Lahu village somewhere in the Chiang Mai province, that marked me, men playing reed pipe with sharpish and throbbing sounds, swinging on their feet on one side and then on the other on a syncopated rhythm not easy to follow, without really having any rules, according to their inspiration, giving the dance pace and step that the other dancers had to follow, inebriated by both music and rice wine... Since then this dance has always remained in my memory. And last night I watched it again, more than 40 years later, and I relived the same magical moment, carried away by the joyous frenzy of these Lahu people…
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 2 (reed pipe)
Festivities continued late into the night, filled with dancing, singing, and drinking. The haunting sound of Reed pipes was followed by the bewitching beat of drums, gongs, and cymbals, and later the threnody of traditional Lahu songs. The village fell asleep late at night, the dawn was already beginning to break behind the still and silent mountains.
“Ja Khoe” Lahu traditional circle dance 3 (drums, gongs, and cymbals)
This morning in Ban Nam Chang was a real magical moment. The sky was so clear and the air so fresh, a huge contrast with Pai where the air condition is so bad, it was like a call, a call of nature, a call of the mountains, it was irresistible, just what I needed, a morning walk… I spent 2 hours walking around the village, and when I came back everyone in the house was already awake and busy with the daily housework and tasks, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the little ones… the Lahu are one of the most egalitarian societies between men and women who equally share the daily tasks at home and in the fields. Everyone participates without gender discrimination in all the activities and work of the family and the community.
The village of Ban Nam Chang in the morning light
Everyone in the family joins together to prepare meals
My friend told me, during the last day of the New Year celebration(11), people of Ban Nam Chang visit the other surrounding Lahu villages, they bring gifts and offerings (cooked pork meat, glutinous rice cakes, water) to give to their neighbors and friends, perform merit-making rituals and pay respect to the elders with pouring water on their hands and asking for blessing, before returning to their village. Then, later in the same day, people of other villages come to their village to do the same ritual(12). She said normally all the villages of the area come to meet up in Ban Nam Chang at the end of the day, they have a big party and they dance together around the New Year Tree all night round. But this year, due to the New Normal Politic, this event has been canceled.
On the way back to Pan Ma Pha, I took another road through the mountains, which I personally consider one of the most beautiful and breathtaking roads in Mae Hong Son Province. I would have liked to take some photos but I was following another vehicle which generated a lot of dust. Approaching Ban Pha Phueak, a Lahu village, I saw small shelves made with wood and bamboo erected along the road, decorated with color papers and holding lighted candles and food offerings inside, and a bigger construction made of leaves and looking like a shelter. I was accompanied by a young couple and their kid that I took from Ban Nam Chang to Ja Bo. They said to close the New Year Celebration Lahu perform a last ritual in order to expel negative things and bad luck from the village(13). The ceremony just took place, we passed groups of people walking back to the village. In the courtyard of a house, young people and kids were playing with water, splashing each other, likewise people play for Songkran, the Thai New Year… I felt a bit frustrated, there are so much to discover and learn, and I missed a lot… next year will come back, wonderful Red Lahu people!!!
…/…
Notes
1. Lahu Nyi or Red Lahu, also called Mousseu Daeng in Thailand (Red Mousseu). Mousseu is a shan word meaning hunter, the Lahu are known for being great and skillful hunters.
2. The New Year, “Kho’ Jao We”, is by far the most important period in the annual ritual cycle of the Lahu Nyi communities. It is a multi-day event including playing games, sacrificing pigs, mixing and distributing food, reciting ritual texts, pounding sticky rice into cakes, making beeswax candles, shooting off fireworks, building ceremonial tree and performing traditional dances. Labor is forbidden for the entire duration of the new Year period, and families have plenty of time to visit and bring gifts to their neighbors and neighboring villages. Communities also must plan the agricultural cycle accordingly and complete the harvest before the official start of the festivities and visitations. The ritual aspect and surrounding activities may vary according to the villages and communities. The date of the New Year is not fixed and may also vary by villages, communities or areas. It falls during the 4th and 5th lunar months of the North Thai calendar, between December and February, quite often around the Chinese New Year. However, some Lahu villages in Thailand organize the New Year Celebration in March, during school holidays, in order to allow everyone to come and participate in the event (as I have noticed this year in Pang Ma Pha District). The Lahu New Year is therefore divided into two distinct periods: the “Female New Year”, called “Kho' Luang” (เขาะหลวง) or “Pi Yai” (ปีใหญ่), which lasts approximatively 6 days, normally followed 12 days later by the “Male New Year”, called “Kho’ Noi” (เขาะน้อย) or “Pi Lek” (ปีเล็ก), which also lasts approximatively 6 days. If we take into account the ceremonies done before and after, the New Year's celebration and festival last for almost a month. As the religious leaders of the villages choose the dates so that the celebrations of the Female and Male New Years end on an auspicious day, the period of 12 days between the 2 celebrations may vary as I observed in Ban Nam Chang where this year only 1 day separated the two events and people told me they didn’t know about these 12 days rule, they take more into account the end date of each New Year which must be a propitious day. The Women's New Year is a time of enjoyment and where most of the celebrations take place, unlike the Male New Year where nothing happens except a few rituals. Villages grouped together in the same area celebrate the New Year at the same time. It is an opportunity to reaffirm the links that unite the villagers to each other and the village to the supernatural world. Everyone puts on new clothes and the young people embellish theirs with silver ornaments. Firecrackers and gunshots echoed throughout the village, the Lahu hoping to attract G’ui Sha's attention, the supreme deity. They play, have a lot of fun and dance every night…
3. “Wan Dam Hua” (วันดำหัว), “Wan” means “day", “Dam Hua” (ดำหัว) is a Northern Thai expression and means “pour water on the head”, especially for New Year celebration. Here for Lahu people this ritual act, called “O Ri Te Kha’ We”, was said to symbolize younger people’s respect for their elders and the elders’ concern for the youngsters, while simultaneously demonstrating the solidarity of the village community.
4. “O Phu” is pounded steamed glutinous rice with sesame shaped into a round ball similar to “Khao Puk” (ข้าวปุ๊ก) in Thai and be used as an offering to the god G'ui Sha.
5. It appears that the Water Rituals is more a ceremony performed by women than men but here, in Ban Nam Chang, men participated in this ritual.
6. New Year's Tree, “Hk’aw’ Ceh” in Lahu or “Ton Wo” in Thai (ต้นวอ).
7. In Thailand the overwhelming majority of Lahu Nyi follow a traditional ideology of the supernatural world which includes belief in the existence of a great number of spirits, generically termed ”Ne“. Most important of these guardian spirits are the ”Yeh Ne” or house spirit, sometimes called ”Ne Lon“ the great spirit, who is said to protect the village. Besides the spirits, the Lahu Nyi believe in a supreme and creating divinity called ”G’ui Sha“. The crucial ideological distinction which Lahu Nyi make between ”G’ui Sha“ and the ”Ne“ is reflected in the ritual organization of many villages where the offices of priest and spirit specialist are quite distinct. Priests mediate between the people and ”G’ui Sha“, the most important of these priests is called the ”To Bo Pa” or ”Keh Lu Pa”. He is the intermediary between the villagers and ”G’ui Sha“, his principal concern is to lead the villagers in worshiping ”G’ui Sha“ and directs the ceremonies dedicated to him. The office of priest, of whatever grade, is always held in higher esteem than that of spirit specialist (shaman) called “Ne Te Sheh Hpa” or “Maw Pa” who is the intermediary between the village and the spirits. In addition, Lahu Nyi villages are led by headmen called ”Hka' Sheh Hpa“ (Sheh Hpa means master and Hka’ village), or "Kae Ban" whose authority is supported or modified by the village elders and ritual practitioners.
8. Water ritual is performing in various ceremonies throughout the year, from every household a female representative brings her own vessel of water and pours some into the common vessel. This mixing of water symbolizes the unity of the village community. Water is regarded as a very important matter because for the Lahu water is sacred and a symbol of good luck and happiness. There is little wonder, therefore, that Lahu associates water with a particularly significant spirit entity, the “I Ka Law Ne” spirit of waters and streams/rivers. One of the activities observed at the Lahu New Year celebration is "Competing for New Water". Each family picks a member to run to a certain spring to fetch the "New Water." It is regarded as a very important activity. The one who first gets the "New Water" brings a rich harvest of grains and fruits and good luck for his or her family. Therefore, in the early morning of New Year's Day, when a cock heralds the break of day, every family's representative member rushes to the spring to get the "New Water." After the water is brought back home it is first offered to ancestors as an act of worship, and then given to the elderly for washing their faces. However, the Lahu of Ban Nam Chang do not seem to know this tradition, in any case they compete for “New Water”.
9. “Nor Sue Lae” or Lahu reed pipe, a kind of wind musical instrument with free reed and belonging to the Khene family. “Nor Sue Lae” is a very important musical instrument for ritual and festival of Lahu ethnic group.
10.During the Lahu New Year Festival, every village holds the traditional circle dance “Ja Khoe” (ca khui) to pay homage to the New Year Tree and the god “G’ui Sha" whom they ask for giving beneficence, protection, love, and happiness to their village, good health for all of them all year round, abundant harvest with beautiful rice and water for crops and for their use. Everyone, old and young, man and or woman, wearing their best festival clothes, take part in this ritual dance. They gather in the center of the village or in a clearing with 1 or 2 men or more playing the “Nor Sue Lae” (reed pipe) and leading the dance. Women and men, then, join their hands and form a circle around, dancing, screaming, and shouting for joy, to the beat of the music. In some places, the “Ja Khoe” dance can be very big with several or even dozens of men in the center playing the “Nor Sue Lae”. As a group dance, the Lahu dance is very colorful and dance moves are adapted from their way of life. Some dances represent their working chores such as Rice Dance called “Ja Khoe We” (จ่าเกอะเว), Harrow Dance called “Hae Pho We” (แฮพ้อเว), Spinning Dance called “Sa Lao We" (ส่าลาวอเว); others imitate the movements and gestures of animals that the Lahu, known as a tribe of hunters, have met in the mountain and forest, such as Flying Bird Dance called “Ngae’ Poi Te We” (แงะปอยเตเว), Flying Bee Dance called “Hae Sa Pae Wu Re We” (แฮส่าแป้วูเรเว), Deer Dance called “Hae Nu Lo Ka To We” (แฮนูลอกาต่อเว), etc.; or applying the dance according to their beliefs such as the God Dance called ”G’ui Sha Poi Te We“ (อื่อซาปอยเตเว). Because of its delicacy and passion, it is the most favored dance of the Lahu people who dance all night until the morning, alternating dances accompanied by the “Nor Sue Lae” and dances accompanied by the drums (called “Ja Khu"), gongs and cymbals.
11. I don’t know which last day, of the Female or Male New Year.
12. This reciprocity ritual is exactly the same ritual as “O Ri Te Kha’ We” but performed at the inter-community level between Lahu villages of the same area. The ritual perfectly reflects the traditional social custom of gift and counter-gift, and it is fully integrated into the Lahu New Year’s function, the purpose of which is to maintain the village solidarity, inter-village solidarity, household harmony, gender equality, and spirit world connection. There are plenty of significance for the symbolic solidarity practiced by ritual acts of “mixed rice” where each villager brings a handful of rice to a central container and “mixed water” where, again, each household brings one container (bamboo joint or bottle) of water to pour into a central vessel.
13. “Mae Djo We“ or “Pithi Lai Phi” (พิธีไล่ผี) en Thai. On this occasion, Lahu build merit shelters and altars dedicated to “G’ui Sha" and spirits, decorated with color paper streamers attached to bamboo sticks (where red is a particularly appropriate color for the spirits and white is the color for “G’ui Sha"), along the pathway to their village. Later every household brings food offerings, light beeswax candles that they place on each offering receptacle for the spirits, and “G’ui Sha". Once all these are alight, the priest prays, to the accompaniment of drum, gong, and cymbals, address the local guardian spirit, and asks him to create blessings or merit in exchange for the offerings which the village community has provided. He asks the spirit to watch over the workers in the fields and protect the crops from wild animals, and he requests that the supply of food and drink may never be exhausted, and praying to the same spirit as keeper of all the wild animals in the area, the priest requesting that the villagers may enjoy success in the hunt. The guardian spirit of the locality having thus been propitiated, the priest turns his attention to “G’ui Sha”, the highest of all super natural beings whom the Lahu recognize, prays and offers the shelter and its contents to “G’ui Sha". After the prayer, all partake of the food which the women have spread out in the shelter. When all have eaten, the villagers tie cotton string around each other’s wrists. This wrist-binding rite symbolizes the passing of blessings from one person to another. The people say it also stresses the unity of the village community. It is not necessary for everybody to bind everyone else’s wrist, but the elders of the community are especially requested to bind the wrists of their juniors in order to pass on to them their blessings. The wrist-binding rite finished, the whole ritual sequence is at an end and the villagers set off for home. The merit shelter will be used as a place of temporary rest by the Lahu villagers themselves and by anyone else traveling along that pathway until it falls down after a year or two.
Information sources
The above information and details come from the works and researches of the following authors:
Anthony R. Walker
Hans J. Spielmann
Jaquetta Hill, Nannaphat Saenghong, and Kate Grim-Feinberg
Benjamin Stuart Fairfield
Philipp Schiess
Shanshan Du
Sanit Wongsprasert
Jean-Claude NEVEU
Amber Morris
ธนพชร นุตสาระ
More photos:
R1226, stunning landscape
R1226, village of Ban Huai Hia
R1226, village of Pang Kham (start of the road to Doi Tai laeng, Shan State)
Ban Nam Chang surroundings
Ban Nam Chang surroundings
Ban Nam Chang South entrance
Ban Nam Chang, the main road
Lahu small girls
Lahu small girls
Sunset over Nam Chang valley
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Morning walk around Ban Nam Chang
Vegetable morning collect
Vegetable morning collect
Vegetable morning collect
Lahu modern kitchen
Lahu women preparing food for morning meal
Preparation of food for morning meal
Traditional kitchen using firewood in a Lahu home
Morning meal
