Bracelets Of Karen

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Bracelets: Pwo women like to cover their arms with a variety of bracelets. Some are flat and narrow, while others are round and smooth, twisted or coiled. They may be made of silver, copper, brass, or aluminum. Several kinds are often worn together.

In some areas it has become popular among the Pwo to wear bracelets made by stringing ordinary white shirt buttons back to back, with tiny brass bells attached. Others wear bracelets made of plaited rattan or lacquered thread. Sgaw women are much more moderate in their use of jewelry. A few men, both Sgaw and Pwo, wear simple bracelets of silver, brass, or aluminum-one on each wrist.

Ornaments: Silver

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Silver jewelry Karen do not wear the heavy types of silver jewelry used by some other tribal groups. The most common type of silver necklace is made of the old "bullet coins" which were used by the Thai for hundreds of years. These come in several sizes, the one-baht size is sometimes used as a pendant in the center of a string of one-baht coins. Bullet coins are usually strung on braided red thread.

Another style is the "rice grain" necklace. Delicately-made hollow, elongated silver beads alternated with tiny spherical ones are worn in multi-strands.

Karen neck rings are small in comparison with those of other tribes. Some are thin bands of silver which hook around the neck. Others are flat, round or twisted. Many are etched with plant, animal, or geometric designs.

Ornaments KAREN

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Beads : Sgaw women and girls wear multiple strands of small beads which hang anywhere from mid-chest to waist length, favoring red, white and yellow. Pwo women, on the other hand, wind extremely long strings of beads around the throat and down to mid-chest. These are mostly black. Young Pwo bachelors wear bead chokers, and on special occasions multiple strands of longer beads as well. The Karen use an astonishing variety of beads. Many wear small glass seed-beads used as barter by European traders centuries ago. Others are Chinese glass beads, and no doubt some are from India and other Asian and European countries. Tiny pierced beads are made from coconut shells cut out with metal tools by a technique known by the Karen for hundreds of years. These feather-light beads become very dark and shiny with use.

Shoulder bags KAREN

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Shoulder bags : Plain canvas-like bags made of unbleached homespun with only narrow stripes of red, indigo, or black down the sides are used for every-day work bags. Finely woven ones, usually of market thread, are more decorative. Pwo bags are woven with a top border of designs similar to those used in the women's blouses. Sgaw bags have designs which are either geometric or stylized animals or flowers. These bags were traditionally red or white. Now, however, they are often black, and when made for sale may be any color

Married women's dress: KAREN

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Married women's dress : All married women wear sarongs and over-blouses. A young woman contemplating marriage makes her own wedding clothes, as well as a shirt for her prospective husband. The woman's outfit is made in a wide variety of designs, depending whether Sgaw or Pwo, mountain-dwellers or valley-dwellers, living in the north or south, and how recently they have arrived from Burma. It is therefore difficult to classify Karen women's clothing. Sgaw women living in the mountains wear blouses woven of indigo-dyed homespun cotton. They embroider the lower portion of the blouse with bright red thread, and embellish it with white Job's-tear seeds. The borders may vary from rather simply embroidered patterns over the lower third of the blouse to very elaborate solid embroidery covering two-thirds of the garment. On some of the blouses the seeds are used sparingly, and simply accent the design of the embroidery, while on others they form a major element in the pattern. Often a strip of red cloth three or four fingers wide is appliqued near the bottom edge.

Other Sgaw women blouses with a woven pattern. The top part of the blouse is plain black or indigo, and the design forms a lower border. It can be a rather narrow border or extend two-thirds of the way up. Again it is predominantly red, with other colors used for accent. The lower section has large all-over diamond-shaped patterns and above that is a section blocked out into vertical rectangles. Most of the patterns within the rectangles are variations of diamonds, zigzags, vertical lines, and dots. Pwo women generally wear blouses with bold patterns. A Style worn by Pwo living in the Hod Valley uses black thread for the basic cloth, but it is totally overlaid with a pattern of alternating red and gold-colored stripes and squares, often accented with Job's-tear seeds. Another style of Pwo Karen blouse has an all-over design in the upper part of the blouse-across the shoulders and down about half way, just the opposite of the Sgaw style. Blouses are sleeveless but the cloth falls over the shoulders with a cap-sleeve effect. While working, women often wear long detached sleeves of dark blue or black cloth to protect their arms. Married women wear sarongs made of two strips of material sewn together horizontally, then stitched together to form a tubular skirt. Being narrow, the sarongs do not have enough overlap to be folded and tucked in like Thai-style sarongs, therefore they are either bunched around the waist or wrapped with a pleat in front, and held up with a cord or metal belt. Sarongs are worn anywhere from knee- to ankle-length, being hitched up shorter when doing certain ty0pes of work, and worn longer for more formal occasions. Homespun skirts using ikat (tie-dye) patterns are worn by mountain-dwelling Sgaw and Pwo women. Each woman has her own way of tying the thread to produce her special pattern, and she carefully guards her secret. It is said that the tie-dye process is associated with spirit worship, and each woman does hers in the forest, away from curious eyes. The brick-red dye is made from the Kho plant. After the threads are tied and dyed, the warp is set up using strips of ikat alternating with bands of kho-dyed thread, accented with strips of indigo thread.

Plains-dwelling Karen generally wave their skirts of market thread, with narrower strips of tie-dyed pattern and wider strips of solid colors in order to save time and work. Some of the plains0dwelling Pwo women wear very bright-colored skirts. The basic color is usually red. They commonly have narrow strips of tie-dyed design of the rust of brick-red color, separated with strips of an intricately woven pattern, alternating stripes of gold, green, and black or blue Sgaw women in the Mae Sariang plains weave skirts of still a different type. The borders are red, while the central panel is of an intricate all-over pattern of various colors.

Clothing KAREN

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Clothing The name "Karen" has become almost synoymous with " Weaver", so outstanding are the products of Karen looms. Their unusual embroidery and seed work make for widely varied types of clothing worn by those groups coming under the general heading of "Karen". The upper garments worn by men, women and children are made in the same basic way, differing only in length, color and embellishment. They are made of two strips of hand-woven cloth, the width depending on the size of the wearer. These strips are folded in half, the fold forming the shoulders of the garment. They are then stitched together, leaving openings for the head and arms which are bound with braid of a contrasting color. Karen make the most of their stitching. It is seldom hidden, but rather becomes a part of the decoration. Originally all clothing was made of homespun cotton cloth. Even now many mountain-dwelling Karen still spin thread from their own cotton. Weaving is done on simple back-strap looms using a single-warp technique.

KAREN

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THE Karen, or Yang as they are called by the Northern Thai, or Kariang as they are known to Thais in other parts of the country, are the largest highland group in Thailand. In 1995, Karen population was estimated 321,900 which equalled 46.34 percent of the total hill tribe population of the country. Karen communities are located mainly in the mountainous areas of the western provinces along the Thai-Burmese border (Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Tak, Kanchanaburi and Phrachuap Khiri Khan) and are scattered is some provinces in north and central Thailand (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.

The Karen belong to the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. They are divided into four major sub groups:

1. The Skaw Karen or White Karen who call themselves and other subgroups Pga-gan-Yaw.

2. The Pwo Karen or Plong who are also known as White Karen but sometimes they are also

3. known as White Karen but sometimes they are wrongly called Red Karen.

4. The Pa-O or Taungthu who are also known as Black Karen.

5. The Bwe or Kayah or Red Karen.

Karen settlements tend to be in areas of lower altitude compared with those of other tribes. Most of them are located in valleys or mountain saddles at an average height of 500 metres above sea level. Karen villages are sedentary and some villages have been established for more than a hundred years. Unlike other tribes, they have clearly recognised garden and village boundaries. Each village maintains its own sense of sovereignty and people from outside are not allowed to cultivate land within its territory unless they have rights over paddy fields gained either through purchase or inheritance

Although many Karen construct terraced fields for wet rice, nearly all are also engaged in swidden cultivation. The shifting cultivation method of the Karen is called land rotation or cyclical bush fallow. Rice and vegetables are their major crops. Today some Karen may grow opium but it is not a traditional crop.

The Karen raise various kinds of domestic animals including pigs, chickens, water buffaloes, cattle and elephants. Some animals, mostly chickens, are killed for ceremonial offerings and feasts, and other are used as beasts of burden. The Karen derive cash income from the sale of cattle, and local produce, from wage labor, and by hiring out their elephants.

Karen kinship and marriage custom are different from those of other highlanders. Kinship is traced through the maternal line and residence is matrilocal. The Karen practice monogamy, and most households are nuclear. In all cases, the family represents the most important basic cooperative unit in all domestic affairs. In Thailand, the Karen mostly practise the Buddhism and Animism. And some follow the Christian faith. Their New Year celebration takes place in January or February.