Kayan people (Burma)

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For other uses, see Kayan.
Kayan

A Kayan Lahwi woman

Total population
130,000
Regions with significant populations
Burma, Thailand
40,000
Burma: Shan State
Burma: Kayah State
20,000
600
Thailand
Languages
Padaung language
Religion
Roman Catholicism

A Kayan Lahwi girl

The Kayan are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of
Burma (Myanmar). The Kayan consists of the following groups: Kayan Lahwi (also called
Padaung, [bd]), Kayan Ka Khaung (Gekho), Kayan Lahta, Kayan Ka Ngan. Kayan
Gebar, Kayan Kakhi and, sometimes, Bwe people (Kayaw).
Padaung (Yan Pa Doung) is a Shan term for the Kayan Lahwi (the group whose women wear the
brass neck coils). The Kayan residents in Mae Hong Son Province in Northern Thailand refer to
themselves as Kayan and object to being called Padaung. In The Hardy Padaungs (1967) Khin
Maung Nyunt, one of the first authors to use the term "Kayan", says that the Padaung prefer to be
called Kayan.[1] On the other hand, Pascal Khoo Thwe calls his people Padaung in his 2002
memoir, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey. [2]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Burma, many Kayan
tribes fled to the Thai border area.[3] Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck
section, which became a tourist site, self-sufficient on tourist revenue and not needing financial
assistance.[4]
According to U Aung Roe (1993:21ss) Kayan number about 40,000 in Shan State (around the
Pekon Township area) and 20,000 in Kayah State (around Demawso and Loikaw). A 2004
estimate puts the population at approximately 130,000.[5] About 600 Kayan reside in the three
villages open to tourists in Mae Hong Son, or in the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp.

Contents

1 Geography
o 1.1 Present settlement of the Kayans

2 Culture
o 2.1 Brass coils
o 2.2 Traditional religion
o 2.3 Current religious practices

3 See also

4 References

5 External links

Geography
Present settlement of the Kayans

Woman and child, 1905.

According to Kayan tradition the Kayan settled in the Demawso area of Karenni State (Kayah
State) in 739 AD.[6] Today they are to be found in Karenni (Kayah) State around Demawso and
Loikow, in the southern region of Shan State and in Mandalays Pyinmana and Karens Than
Daung township.
There are three Kayan villages in Mae Hong Son province in Thailand. The largest is Huay Pu
Keng, on the Pai river, close to the Thai Burma border. Huai Seau Tao is a commercial village
opened in 1995. Many of the residents of Nai Soi Kayan Tayar moved into the Karenni refugee
camp in September 2008, but a few families remain there.
Most of the Kayan people in Mae Hong Son are formerly from nine villages in Karenni State.
The majority are from Rwan Khu and Daw Kee village. The people of Huay Pu Keng are mainly
from Lay Mile village.

Culture
Brass coils
Women of the Kayan tribes identify themselves by their forms of dress. Women of the Kayan
Lahwi tribe are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck,
appearing to lengthen it. The women wearing these coils are known as "giraffe women" to
tourists.
Girls first start to wear rings when they are around five years old.[7] Over the years the coil is
replaced by a longer one and more turns are added. The weight of the brass pushes the collar
bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a
stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle.[8] Many ideas regarding why the
coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have
hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less
attractive to other tribes. It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look
more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than
men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an
important figure in Kayan folklore.[9] The coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites,
perhaps literally, but probably symbolically.[10]
Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, and often say that their purpose for
wearing the rings is cultural identity (one associated with beauty).
The coil, once on, is seldom removed, as the coiling and uncoiling is a lengthy procedure. It is
usually only removed to be replaced by a new or longer coil. The muscles covered by the coil
become weakened. Many women have removed the rings for medical examinations. Most
women prefer to wear the rings once their clavicle has been lowered, as the area of the neck and
collarbone often becomes bruised and discolored. Additionally, the collar feels like an integral
part of the body after ten or more years of continuous wear.

In 2006 some of the younger women in Mae Hong Son started to remove their rings, either to
give them the opportunity to continue their education or in protest against the exploitation of
their culture and the restrictions that came with it. In late-2008 most of the young women who
entered the refugee camp removed their rings. One woman who had worn the rings for over 40
years removed them. After removing the rings, women report discomfort which fades after about
three days. The discoloration is more persistent.
The government of Burma began discouraging neck rings as it struggled to appear more modern
to the developed world. Consequently, many women in Burma began breaking the tradition,
though a few older women and some of the younger girls in remote villages continued to wear
rings. In Thailand the practice has gained popularity in recent years because it draws tourists who
bring revenue to the tribe and to the local businessmen who run the villages and collect an entry
fee of 250 baht per person. The Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), an armed
cease-fire group, have made attempts to invite the Kayan to return to Kayah State to set up their
own tourist villages.
In January 2008 the UNHCR expressed reservations about tourists visiting the Kayan villages in
Northern Thailand due to the provincial governments refusal to allow registered Kayan refugees
to take up offers of resettlement in developing countries.[11] It is believed this policy was linked to
their economic importance to the area. This policy was relaxed in late 2008 and a small group of
Kayan have left for New Zealand in August 2008.[12] Others entered the main Karenni refugee
camp (which is not open to tourists) in September 2008 and they are now eligible for
resettlement.

Traditional religion

Kay Htoe Boe poles.

The Pwai dance.


Following the pwai dance the women sprinkle the men with water using eugenia leaves.

Fowl bone prognostication.

The Kayans traditional religion is called Kan Khwan, and has been practiced since the people
migrated from Mongolia during the Bronze Age.[13] It includes the belief that the Kayan people
are the result of a union between a female dragon and a male human/angel hybrid.[14]
The major religious festival is the 3-day Kay Htein Bo festival, which commemorates the belief
that the creator god gave form to the world by planting a small post in the ground. During this
festival, held in late March or early April, a Kay Htoe Boe pole is erected and participants dance
around the pole.[13][15] This festival is held to venerate the eternal god and creator messengers, to
give thanks for blessings during the year, to appeal for forgiveness, and pray for rain. It is also an
opportunity for Kayan from different villages to come together to maintain the solidarity of the
tribe.
The Kayan have a strong belief in augury and nothing is done without reference to some form of
divination, including breaking thatch grass, but most importantly consulting the chicken bones.
[16]

In present times the annual Kay Htein Bo festival is always accompanied by a reading of the
chicken bones to predict the year ahead. Fowl bone prognostication can be witnessed in the
Kayan villages in Thailands Mae Hong Son province during the annual festival and during
Cleansing Ceremonies which are held when a family has encountered ill fortune. Dreams are
also used to make predictions.

Cleansing Ceremony Rituals

Current religious practices

Although many of the Kayan still participate in these traditional festivals, in the 19th Century
Italian missionaries worked amongst them for many years and today the majority of Kayan and
Kayaw people are Roman Catholics. Statistics published in 2004 lists 306 Kayan villages, out of
which 209 are Roman Catholic, 19 Kan Khwan, 32 Baptist and 44 Buddhist, of which 2 belong
to the Byamaso civil society organization.[5]

Catholic First Communion

See also

Ndebele people of South Africa - An African tribe with a similar practice.

The Kayan of Borneo share the name but are not related and do not have the same
customs.

References
1.

Rastorfer, Jean-Marc (1994), On the Development of Kayah and Kayan National

Identity, Bangcock: Southeast Asian Publishing House

2.

Pascal Khoo Thwe, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey (2002),
ISBN 0-00-711682-9 Google books

3.

Thai Burma Border Consortium / A brief history of the Thailand Burma border
situation

4.

Burmese Border Consortium Relief programme: January to June 2003

5.

Eden Phan, Khon (2004), The Narratives, Beliefs and Customs of the Kayan
People, Mae Hong Son: Kayan Literacy and Culture Committee

6.

Eden Phan, Khon (2004), The Narratives, Beliefs and Customs of the Kayan
People, Mae Hong Son: Kayan Literacy and Culture Committee

7.

Mirante, Edith T. (1994), Burmese Looking Glass: A Human Rights Adventure

and a Jungle Revolution, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press

8.

Keshishian, J.M. (1979), Anatomy of a Burmese Beauty Secret (155.6 ed.),

Washington: National Geographic, pp. 798801

9.

Mirante, Edith T. (September 2006), The Dragon Mothers Polish their Metal
Coils, Guernica Magazine, retrieved 2009-01-01

10.

Mirante, Edith T. (January 1990), "Hostages to Tourism", Cultural Survival

Quarterly (14.1)

11.

BBC news / Burmese women in Thai 'human zoo'

12.

huaypukeng.com

13.

"Religion". Huay Pu Keng. Retrieved 2013-08-04.

14.
15.
16.

Virtua Design. "The Dragon Mothers Polish their Metal Coils by Edith Mirante Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics". Guernicamag.com. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
"Les peuples oublis". Blogg.org. 2007-08-26. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
Manna, Padre Paolo (1902), The Ghekhu-Karen Tribe of Eastern Burma, S.
Giuseppe Pontificial Printing

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kayan (Burma).

Padaung, a subgroup of Karen, The Peoples of the World Foundation

Huay Pu Keng: Long Neck Village Website about this Kayan village in Thailand contains
information on Kayan history, religion, and culture

Karenni Homeland Current news from Karenni State

Burmese women in Thai "human zoo" BBC News article

Flicker Group: Long-Necked Karn

Hostage to Tourism Article by Edith T. Mirante. Need to create account to view article.

French Language page with introduction, notes and bibliography of Kayah, Kayan,
Karenni et Yang Daeng by Jean-Marc Rastorfer
[hide]

Government-classified ethnic groups in Burma

Kachin (12)

Jingpaw

Dalaung

Taron

Guari

Hkahku

Duleng

Maru (Lawgore)

Rawang

Lashi (La Chit)

Atsi

Lisu

Kayah (Karenni)

Pale

Zayein

Ka-Yun (Kayan; Padaung)

Manu Manaw

Kayah (9)

Kayin
(Karen) (11)

Gheko

Yin Talai

Yin Baw

Kayinpyu (Geba Karen)

Pa-Le-Chi

Mon Kayin (Sarpyu)

S'gaw

Ta-Hlay-Pwa

Paku

Bwe

Monpwa

Monnepwa

Shu (Pwo)

Anu

Anun

Asho

Awa Khami

Bre (Ka-Yaw)

Dai (Yindu)

Chin (53)

Dim

Eik-swair

Gunte (Lyente)

Guite

Haulngo

Ka-Lin-Kaw (Lushay)

Kaung Saing Chin

Kaungso

Kebar

Khawno

Kwangli (Sim)

Kwelshin

Kwe Myi

Lai (Haka Chin)

Laizao

Lawhtu

Laymyo

Lhinbu

Lushei (Lushay)

Lyente

Magun

Malin

Maramagyi

Matu

Meithei (Kathe)

Mgan

Mi-er

Naga

Ngorn

Oo-Pu

Panun

Rongtu

Saing Zan

Saline

Sentang

Tanghkul

Tapong

Tay-Zan

Thado

Tiddim (Hai-Dim)

Torr (Tawr)

Wakim (Mro)

Yin Gog

Za-How

Zahnyet (Zanniet)

Zizan

Zou

Zo-Pe

Zotung

Dawei

Beik

Yaw

Yabein

Kadu (Kado)

Moken (Salon; Salone)

Ganan

Hpon

Mon (1)

Mon

Rakhine
(Arakanese)
(7)

Kamein (Kaman)

Khami

Daingnet

Bamar
(Burman) (9)

Miram (Mara)

Mro

Thet

Danaw (Danau)

Danu

Intha

Pa-O

Khamti Shan

Khmu (Khamu)

Kwi

Kokang

Lahu

Palaung

Shan Gale

Shan Gyi

Tai-Loi

Tai-Lem

Tai-Lon

Tai-Lay

Taishon

Shan (33)

Unrecognized
and other

Taungyo

Wa (Va)

Yao

Yin Kya

Yin Net

Yun (Lao)

Man Zi

Pyin

Eng

Son

Kaw (Akha-E-Kaw)

Maw Shan

Ngac'ang

Hkun (Khn)

Burmese Chinese
o Panthay

Burmese Indians

Rohingya

Anglo-Burmese

Gurkha

Authority
control

Pakistani

Malays

LCCN: sh85096545

BNF: cb15120509x (data)

Categories:

Ethnic groups in Burma

Karen people

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