Hilltribes Karen

Karen

The Karen,or Yang (called Kaliang or Yang in Thai), belong to the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. They are found along most of the length of the Thai Burmese border. Their population is about 350,000 in Thailand, with over four million in Burma. This group is the biggest in Thailand.

They are concentrated mainly in Mae Hong Son province, and western areas of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phayao. Karen are to be found also in the provinces of Tak, Kanchanaburi and Phrachuap Khiri Khan, Lampang, Lamphun, Sukhothai, Phrae, Kamphaeng Phet, Phetchaburi, Uthai Thani, Suphanburi and Ratchaburi.

Over the past 200 years they have tended to move eastward away from Burma into Thailand because of political conflicts with the Burmese.

There are four main subgroups:
The main groups are the Sgaw Karen (White Karen who call themselves Pga-gan-Yaw and are the most numerousor ) and the Pwo Karen who are also known as White Karen. The Pa-0 who are also known as Black Karen. The famous Padung, or "long neck" Karen, and the Kayah [ Red Karen].

The Karen costume for women is very attractive and distinctive. Unmarried girls wear loose white V-necked shifts, decorated with Job's Tear seeds at the seams. Married women wear blouses and skirts in bold colors, predominantly red or blue. Men wear blue baggy trousers, with typically red striped shirts, a simplified version of the women's blouses. Black Karen men wear black shirts with a red cummerbund or head scarf. Karen women are skilled in sewing and dyeing, and dress in white blouse sarong combinations with colorful patterns or beads for trim. They wear their long hair tied back in a bun and covered with white scarves.

Karen villages are located in valleys or mountain slops at an average height of 500 metres. Karen houses are not usually large. Adult children usually leave the home when married - there is no extended family housing in most Karen villages. Houses are on stilts, made of bamboo or teak. Central steps lead to a porch, with a store room or kitchen to one side, a living area and bedroom on the other. Beneath the house is a working area, often with a foot operated rice ponder.

The Karen are gentle, peaceful, and cooperative people. The Karen have strict laws against immorality. They are matrilineal societies, so that two married women do not live in the same house. In some villages, the punishment for adultery is death. The village chief has great power over his community, and is regarded as the spiritual as well as the administrative leader. Kinship is traced through the maternal line and residence is matrilocal. The Karen practise monogamy, and most households are nuclear. In all cases, the family represents the most important basic cooperative unit in all domestic affairs.

They, like all the tribes, are skilled farmers who practice crop rotation, and they also hunt for game, with spears and crossbows, and use tame elephants to help them clear land. Karen construct terraced fields for wet rice but are also engaged in swidden cultivation. Rice and vegetables are their major crops. Some Karen grow opium. They raise pigs, chickens, water buffaloes, cattle and elephants. Some animals, mostly chickens, are killed for ceremonial offerings. The Karen use to hire out their elephants or work with them in elephant camps, performing shows for tourists.

Karen are originally animist, but about 25% of Karen living in Thailand have been converted to christianity by western missionaries.
The Karen New Year celebration takes place in January or February.