Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

by Graeme Monaghan

Few outside the 'Golden Quadrangle' area of Asia have heard of the Akha tribes-people, although their numbers are estimated at between 2.5 and three million people.

Bargaining at the Night Bazaar

Although they consider their original 'Ancestor Village' to be in Yunnan, China, they are actually of Tibetan/Burmese extraction and their language(s) are far more closely allied to those regions than those of China.

The Akha could well be termed the 'Jews of Asia� as they have no homeland, no country and no army. Also, they have no kings, emperors or prime ministers but are governed only by locally elected leaders, or headmen for each village who administer on the basis of Akha Customary Law, or Zang, which has been handed down from generation to generation for many centuries.

They also have no books or writing of any kind with which to administer these laws but they, along with the history of the Akha peoples, are memorised by several of the elders over a number of years and subsequently handed down to the next generation.

Contrary to a popular misconception, the Akha are not nomadic but have been forced to wander from area to area by political circumstances and their numbers are now spread between the five countries of China (Yunnan Province), Burma, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. In the past one hundred years these migrations have been hastened by the many wars and skirmishes throughout these areas and the harassment of the opium warlords, forcing the Akha to scatter continually into new tribal and family groups.

Although, in northern Thailand, tourists visit many villages and the locals perform dances for them, they live almost identical lifestyles to their ancestors and still wear traditional tribal clothing and headdress on an everyday basis.

For the people of Saen Chareon Akha village in Northern Thailand their final shift came after being literally caught in a crossfire between Burmese, Thai and Laotian soldiers and also the army of the defeated Royalist Chinese, the �Koumintang'.

This village, now numbering approximately 750 persons, was established in 1965 when theinhabitants were forced to migrate deeper into Thailand from an area close to the Thai-Burmese border.

These fascinating people, like the Chinese, are 'ancestor worshippers' and conduct elaborate ceremonies to honour their forefathers, to ask their advice on certain matters or problems, and invite them to join them in their feasts.

Their lives are ordered by cycles of a twelve-day week and a twelve-year 'life-cycle'. These are recognised by the names of animals such as the buffalo, tiger, mule, rabbit, termite, etc., and thus they may say 'I was born on a rabbit day in the year of the monkey'.

They also strongly believe in the �invisible forces' who are the true owners of the forests and the land, and their permission must be sought for any usage of the land, cutting trees, growing rice, vegetables, etc. Again, intricate rituals are carried out to ensure these �invisible forces' are not offended in any way and sanction is given.

For hundreds of years, they have practised �selected ecological farming'. When an area of the forest is chosen for cultivation (after approval of the ancients) no trees are cut down and killed. Only the upper branches are removed to allow sunlight through and the crops, usually of rice and corn, grow between the trees. Thus, when they move to a new area, usually every five years, the forest regrows to its former self without harm.

Each Akha village has a teacher-reciter, or Phi-ma, who has memorised the entire history of the tribe since its founding 800 years ago, by a man called Sm-io, when they separated from their close relatives, the Hani.

Included in this history is the entire ancestor lineage and the reciter can give the names of each father/son for the 65 generations from Sm-io. This is made slightly easier as the last name of the father becomes the first name of the son.

When one Akha meets another Akha whom he or she does not know, they recite their ancestor lines to each other. In this way they establish 'who they are' and 'where they stand' in the tribal hierarchy or their position in society. It is rather like a travelling identity card system and embraces all Akha peoples throughout the five countries of their habitation.

In 1992, Saen Chareon village headman and Phi-ma, Abaw Buseu, and some other elders decided to make the trip back to Yunnan, China. The journey, by car and bus took considerably less time than the centuries of migration from place to place until they settled in Northern Thailand.

The meeting with their tribal counterparts was to be a surprising one indeed, for although they experienced some difficulties with the local dialect, they found that these Yunnan Akha sang the same songs and danced the same dances as they themselves still do.

If that were not enough, when both village Phi-mas began to recite the ancestor lineage, they discovered that, not only were they both descended from the original founder Sm-io, but both had identical ancestor lines for twelve generations, approximately three hundred years, before they separated.

Needless to say, both parties were astounded and overjoyed by the revelation.

For the Yunnan Akha, it was a meeting with cousins from whom they had been separated for more than five hundred years and for the Saen Chareon Akha, it was the discovery of their true roots. A journey to the original village.

A journey that had taken place after five centuries of separation.

A long, long journey home.