|
Probably the
least known of the northern Thailand
mountain minorities the Lawa are
probably the most interesting. The Lawa
were the first people to inhabit the
Chiang Mai valley in historic times and
are referred to in myth and legend.
 The
'Phu Sae Ya Sae' or 'grandfather,
grandmother' spirits ceremony in which
the 'good' represented by Buddha,
overcomes 'evil' represented by a medium
in a 'cannibalistic' trance, is still
performed annually every June near
Chiang Mai city and has its origins in
ancient Lawa ritual. Ancient grave sites
and remnants of old settlements indicate
a sophisticated people inhabited the
area before the Thai arrived seven
hundred years ago.
Today the
Lawa have either fully assimilated into
Thai society as in some villages in the
the Chiang Mai city area and only retain
some of their language, or they have
been marginalized into 'hilltribe'
villages in the Mae La Noi and Mae Chaem
ares. They might sometimes be seen in
the market at Mae Sariang. These 'hilltribe'
Lawa are mixing and intermarrying with
the neighboring Karen.
They are not
migratory, like many of the hilltribes,
but live in settled villages that have
been there for sometimes hundreds of
years. They cultivate wet padi rice and
sell vegetables and forest products to
the local markets.
In dress
they are similar to the Karen except the
women wear a short sarong with a
'lightning' pattern, wear a lot of
brightly colored beads around their
necks, and can occasionally be seen with
black lacquered leg bands made of cane.
Their language is of the Mon-Khmer group
and they have many rituals and spirits
of which the Karen are very afraid.
|
|
