The most conservation-minded farmers in the mountains - also known
as the Lawa or Milakkha - these people are amongst the very earliest settlers
in northern Thailand and sadly number only around 8,000 people, making
them just 1.42% of the known hilltribe population.
It is thought that the Lua emigrated into the upper Ping River valley
about 660AD and most now live on the Bo Luang plateau, southwest of Chiangmai,
and the mountainous area of Umpai south east of Mae Hong Son.
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Of Austro Asiatic stock, say the anthropologists, they are related to
the Mon-Khmer linguistic group and have been largely absorbed into Thai
society, being animists and ancestor-worshippers as well as Buddhist.
The Lua practice shifting cultivation on a crop rotation basis, giving
the land time to recover before re-planting. They are especially skillful
at making the terraces on which wet "hill rice" is grown. Monogamous,
the only division within their culture is that a small group calling themselves
Kun claim descent from a king-like figure named Khun Luang Wilanka.
The womenfolk wear white cloth headscarves, multi-layered rows of beads
around their necks and brightly coloured, slim-fitting skirts. Unusually,
the men also often wear white jackets and trousers.
Next month: The Mlabri
PEARL HARBOR?
Click for larger photograph
Almost! This metal bas relief of a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero-Sen actually
represents an aircraft of the 64th Sentai, wich was stationed here at Chiangmai.
Framed in dark Thai timber, each piece is numbered and only 1000 pieces
will ever be produced. Made by Thai craftsmen with care.
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