Hill tribes groups of Northern Thailand.

Ethnic hill tribes groups.

Information about those ethnic groups, the most who are living up the mountains in the upland areas of the Golden Triangle. They live in the mountainous regions of the parts of the Northern Thailand, in Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Originate primarily from Tibet, Middle and Southern China and Myanmar. Each of the tribes has its own language, culture, religion and characteristic dress features.

Main tribes are the Akha, the Lhisu, the Hmong, the Karen (well known for the women with long necks), the Lahu and the Mien. They are minorities in the national states they live in, do not have the nationality of those states, and thus can not exercise rights connected to the nationality of these states, in particular regarding housing, education, healthcare and welfare. Generally speaking their standard of living is low. Alcoholism and drug addiction are common.

Living in the mountainous regions of Northern Thailand.

In the region where Myanmar borders Northern Thailand, the power of the central Myanmar regime is limited. Fore years the Shan are fighting a long lasting and fierce battle with government. Meanwhile local drug lords are fighting between each other. People fall victim to all the ongoing fighting and many of them cross the border into the mountains in the north of Thailand. Yet, having arrived there, they do not or barely speak the language, are not entitled to a Thai identification card, can not possess plots of land nor can they lay claim to education or health care.

Their dwellings are primitive: thatched bamboo huts, if they are lucky a bit of corrugated iron. As ever, the children are the main victims of this situation. Many of the families are incomplete, one or both parents fallen victim to the warfare, alcoholism or drug addiction. Sufficient means to bring up the children in a way fit for a human being are lacking. The children are left to their fate, some of the older move to the cities and live on the street. Some, the lucky ones, are being taken into an orphanage.

The term "Hill Tribe" is used for all various people who are migrated from Tibet and China at the past centuries. They stay and lived at the border areas between Northern Thailand, Burma and Laos. These places are well know for the mountains areas and the thick forests. They prefer to live above 1,000 Meters and be shy for the real world outside. This group are farmers who used old cultural techniques to farm.

The people are traditionally migrated people, an ethnic minority group. They can be recognized for the unique and colorful costumes, which they wear every day. One of the source incomes are the opium cultivation, but also cabbage and fruits are a regular income for the Hill Tribes.

Karen.

The most of the Karen people are living in Chiang Mai, North Thailand at the Thai Burmese border area. The Karen Hill Tribe in Chiang Mai starting to move into Thailand at the 17th century. They living in small village up hill with around 25 bamboo houses on stilts. The villages tending to cluster and the village priest have the highest authorities and run the village along with the elders.

Those people are an ethnic group with the Sino Tibetan language. There are about 280,000 Karen people in Thailand. By far the largest of the Major tribes. Dressed in specially Karen clothes, hand woven and in the colors Red with White, and Brown or Blue vertical stripes.

A decorative style with a clear stitching. Simple forms in a sleeveless tunic for the men and more elaborate style on the Sarongs for the women. The Two main groups are the Pwo and Skaw also know as the White Karen and the Red Karen. Sub groups are the S'gaw's and the Paku's.

The Karen's live harmoniously with traditional rituals, the "Lord of the Water and Land". This ethnic group believes in soul and have guardian spirits with nature spirits in the rocks, mountains and water that surround the Karen. Today the majority is Buddhism in conjunction with Animism.

This group in Thailand are the only ethnic group who grows wet rice on the built terraces. They practice agriculture and cultivate irrigated paddy fields. They are cooperative and very peaceful people. The Karen, also know as the "Long Neck" or the "Giraffe" tribe, but the Women who wear these rings on the neck belong to a sub group know as the Padaung tribe.

Hmong.

Dividend in Two Sub groups, The Blue and the White. The Hmong Tribes are living in the uppermost regions of Thailand. Originally they come from China and now they stay in Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam and at the Northern parts of Thailand. This group is well integrated with the Thai society and maybe the most successful hill tribe. The population from the Hmong Tribes is about 150,000 people, an ethnic group in several different countries in South East Asia.

The history is difficult to find and trace, no written records, only an oral tradition. They speaks them own language, they wear them own customs and have them own ways in life. Hmong's have a social organization, this society have about eighteen Hmong clans (Cha, Cheng, Chue, Fang, Hang, Her, Khang, Kong, Kue, Lee, Lo, Lor, Moua, Pha, Thao, Vang, Vue, Xiong and Yang).

The Hmong clan groups are exogamous, that will means that you can not marry someone inside your own clan, you have to find your marriage partner at another clan. the way of marry is a traditional symbolic kidnapping. They have traditional spiritual practices as animism, shamanism and ancestor reverence. Spiritual beliefs related to illness, health and death.

The Hmong new year celebration is a traditional and cultural tradition in the communities of them. Party in a special dress, traditional clothes and food, music, dance and many other forms of entertainment. An ethnic group with traditional lifestyles and the people are independent and diligent with their own ancient way of life in the North of Thailand.

Lisu.

A Tibeto Burman ethnic group who living in the mountains of South West China, Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. About 55,000 people living in Thailand, where they belong to One of the Six main Hill Tribes. The Lisu's coming original from the Eastern Tibet. Together with the Lahu tribe, Akha tribe and Kachin they handle the Tibetan Burman language, very related to the Tibetan and the Burmese language. The Lisu practiced slash and burn horticulture. Paddy fields, mountain rice, vegetables and fruit, thw basic subsistence to make a living for them.

The Lisu Hill tribe people consists more then 58 different clans. Each clan has its own surname and name. The biggest clans are Laemae pha (Shue or The Grass), Thorne pha, Ngwa Pha (Fish), Bya pha (The Bee), Naw pha (Thou or Bean), Seu pha ( the Woods) and the Khaw Pha. The most people living in villages high in the mountains. The well know sub group of this tribe is the Flowery Lisu, due to the hill tribe tourism. Women wearing brightly colored dress, men wearing baggy pants. The religion is a part ancestor worship and a part animistic, mixed with local religion and systems with traditional rituals.

Mien.

A minority tribe who also know as the "Yao". The Mien Tribe or the Yao Tribe. One of the largest ethnic groups in Thailand. They live in the mountains, specially in the Chiang Rai province, Phayao and Nan. The believes and culture of these ethnic group is close to the Chinese one. The Yao people or the Mien people live in more then Hundred villages in the North.

There is a population of 30,000 in whole Thailand. Men wearing "Lui Liez" a traditional suit in the colors dark blue and black with the "Mouc fang" the traditional hat for the men's.The women wearing "Lui Houx" a traditional unique dress. Traditional clothes of the Yao Hill Tribe in the Chiang Rai province in North Thailand. The Mien people or the Yao Hill tribe people.

This people believe very strong in the spirit world. The combination of Taoism and Animism (Ani-Taoist) religion is a very important role in the religious life of every single family. A spirit altar is build in every tribe village house, the "Mienv baaih". Many unusual and unique beliefs and the people are usually farmers. Rice products and corn products can be sell in town and bring their daily income for them. The dialect (Mienh waac) have highly tones and is related to Mandarin Chinese language. It has 5 tones and is written in the Thai script.

Akha.

The Akha Hill tribe are subsistence farmers, who are well know for them artistry in the North. They are living in Laos, Burma, the mountains of China and Northern Thailand, where they belong to the Six main Hill Tribes. The Akha's are the poorest group of the Hill tribes. Around 1905 they be in Thailand. There are Two to Three Million Akha's and about 75.000 Akha people are living in the Northern Provinces of Thailand: Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.

They prefer to stay at high altitudes. The villages where they live can be visited by tourists who are on one of the trekking tours in North Thailand. This group speaks a language of the Tibeto Burman family and they are related to the Lisu and the Lahu people.

They are living high in the mountains in bamboo houses, this bamboo huts are separate, one side for the men and one side for the women. The Akha's are experts in farming; corn, soybeans and mountain rice are them favorites to farm at the mountains in the North of Thailand. Also they are very good hunters, and opium growers for a reasonable income. The tourism industry is building up, specific Akha villages are Ban Therd Thai (Ban Hin Taek) and Mae Salong (Santikhiri).

With them own religion, know as animism, a world filled with good and bad spirits, believing in a natural balance, what can easy result in hardship, illness and the death! They are well know for the exotic appearance and extraordinary costumes. Visit the Akha Hill House, getting back to the nature, the only locally managed and owned Hill Tribe retreat in Chiang Rai, North Thailand.

Padaung.

The Padaung also know as "The Long Neck", a subgroup from the Red Karen. A Shan term for the women wear the brass neck coils (Kayan Lahwi), specially in the Mae Hong Son province. An ethnic minority tribe group with a population around the 50,000 people. The Thai government granted the Padaung a refugee status, these tribes are only allowed to live in some certain areas in North Thailand.

In these areas they set up special tourist villages. You find then at the refugee camps at the Burmese border. The womens making crafts and textiles to sell to the visiting tourists and passing travelers.

The Padaung's Hill tribe people live in villages who allowed by the Thai government, those villages with the long neck womens brings many tourists. The women wearing these neck coils are also know as "Giraffe Women". The traditional religion is called Kan Khwan, it believes that the Padaung is a result between a mal angel hybrid and a female dragon. The Three day's Kay Htein Bo festival is the major religious festival for the Long necks.

They have a strong believe in augury, reference to some form of divination and consulting chicken bones. All you can see at the "Cleansing Ceremonies" during the annual festival in the Northern Thailand Padaung villages.

Lahu.

The Lahu people are One of the Six main tribes. An ethnic group of South east Asia. Their population is around the 100,000. They splits them selves in several sub groups as Nyi (Red Lahu), Shi (Yellow Lahu), Na (Black Lahu), Shehleh and the Hpu (White Lahu). Lahu villages are on high altitude in the mountains of the Northern provinces of Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Sorn and Chiang Mai.

The language of this tribe is part of the Lolo Burmese, a sub group of the Tibeto Burman family. It's a very isolate language with numeral classifiers and they have seven tones. They used the Latin Alphabet. The Traditional religion of the Lahu tribe people is polytheistic. In the late 17th century the Buddhism was introduced. The Lahu's are believe in One spirit and be Animists with an overall control to other people.

The Lahu Hill tribe people of Northeastern Thailand had encounters with the Tudong monks (Theravada Buddhist Forest Monks) around the 1940's. This people love entertainment and the easy way of life, also they are very independent people with a very simple life style. They wear traditional costumes by a Thai shirt and a sarong. The ethnic group produce musical instruments, excellent crossbows and other items of bamboo, rattan and wood.

They make the finest baskets you can find in Thailand. More earning living ways are rice farming, vegetables, corn and fruits planting, cows, chickens and raising pigs. The Lahu are pride themselves, on their skills in trapping and hunting. The Thai called the Lahu tribe often "Muser".

Mlabri.

The Mlabri also know as the "Yellow Leaf People". The Thais called it "Phi Tong Luang". They were rarely seen because they live deep in the jungles of Thailand. The Banana leaves are used for the roof on the shelters of this people. When they get yellow, the Mlabri tribe people used them for their gatherer life style. They don't like to be know it as spirits, but they like the name "Yellow Leaf People".

The most Mlabri people living in the jungle and there is not to much choice to make a good living for them and to support the way of this tribe way of life. Most of them works as slaves in the fields for other hill tribes in North Thailand for old clothes and daily food. There are only about 300 Mlabri tribe people remaining in the whole wide world.

Around the 160 Mlabri's have found the way to the Ban Boonyuen village in North Thailand and in the Nan and Phrae provinces. At this village they get education, guidance necessary and knowledge. This ethnic group is been called as "the least understood and most interesting hill tribe people". The group living close to the Hmong's and live a very primitive extremely lifestyle.

They have no real houses and being nomads, move from place to place. They have a few social ceremonies, and there be said that they not have a religious system, but they believe in natural features and some spirits of the forests.

Hill Tribe Foundations.

Info about the Hill Tribes Foundations in Thailand with a list of Hill Tribe and the Hill Tribe Children Foundations, organizations working for the benefit of ethnic minorities, who working directly with Hill Tribe communities at the specific area's in Thailand. This Hill Tribes Foundations commands respect from the local communities and the authorities, earns the respect to work hard with running projects at the local areas.

Foundations list Thailand.

The Asia Foundation - The Thai Hill Tribes, work of the "Impect" in Northern Thailand. The Inter Mountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association (IMPECT), an organization work for the Hill tribes.

The Mirror Foundation - A Thai, Non Governmental Organization. run by the Thai Hill Tribes. Located in Mae Yao district, Chiang Rai province, Northern Thailand.

The Karen Hill Tribes Trust - A charity who works with the Karen Hill tribe people. A UK Registered charity with Thai Foundation based in Bangkok.

The Akha Heritage Foundation - 20 years working with the Akha hill Tribe group.

Akha Association - Charity and Cultural organization for the Akha hill tribe.

Hill tribe projects and info about the Hill tribes projects.

Projects of the Foundations are there for helping the Hill tribe's in The North, specially for the children. Most of those projects for this groups are related with education and teaching and are in the Chiang Rai region and the border areas in the North. To help with issues as drug abuse, culture, erosion and citizenship.

Some more regular Hill tribe projects.

The Youth developments program and children education in Thailand for the Hill tribes (school buses, teaching and dormitories). The respect and quality of Life. Conservation and environmental protection. Drug eradication and the alleviation of poverty. Health improving by installing latrines and clean water systems. Build up regenerating lands and irrigations systems. Protecting culture, health and food security, repatriating Hill tribe Children and preventing malaria. All this projects try to help the Hill tribe (Children's) to build a better future.

Hill tribe schools.

Below a list of the tribe schools Thailand. Education for the ethnic groups and minorities in Thailand, the Hill tribe (Children) Schools.

In Mae Hong Son province you have the Baan Mae Surin Noi School, an ethnic Karen's school. One of the schools in the North West Thailand, who operated by the Ministry of Education and under the UNICEF project.

More hill tribe education places and hill tribe schools.

Kahyang school - Chiang Rai's school for the tribe children in North Thailand.

Akha Education - Association for Akha Education and Culture in Thailand. The AFECT in Thailand.

Mae Tang school - Hill tribe school in Chiang Mai, North Thailand.

Bahn Pah Mee school - School for hill tribe children in Chiang Rai in North Thailand.

Lisu hill tribe craft school - Lisu school in the North of Chiang Rai in Thailand.

Pha Bong Huay Hang - The Pha Bong Huay Hang Tribe School for the Tribe children.

Freedom House Thailand - School for hill tribe minority groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Hill Tribe museum.

Museum about the Hill Tribes in Chiang Rai, the best place to learn about the Tribal culture. Chiang Rai's only museum to learn all about the Hill tribes culture. Museum and Education Center, a public benefit organization to help educate foreign tourists and local Thai people about the Hill tribes culture.

This museum works under the supervision of the Community Development Association. The Tribe museum showing the information about the 6,000 years history about the Hill Tribes and is located in the building of the Population and Community Development Association at the Thanalai Road in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The museum is near the center of the city and can be reach by walking. It's near the well know hotels as Wiang Inn, Golden Triangle Inn and the Wangcome hotel in Chiang Rai City. Opens every day from 09.00 am till 20.00 pm.

Look for more info at the PDA Chiang Rai Hilltribe Museum website.