Akha People in Hmong Culture & traditional
Every aspect of traditional  Akha culture is governed by the 'Akha Way', or Akhazan; a complex moral code that give instructions on who the Akha can marry, when and where to plant rice or build a house, and when ceremonies must be performed. Perhaps because the Akha have no traditional written  language, they have an incredibly rich oral literary tradition, and this code has been passed down from generation to generation.

Continuity is very important to the Akha people, and they see themselves as forming a link in a chain that will become a part of the history of the tribe revered by future generations. It used to be that every Akha male could recite his entire genealogy down through more than fifty generations from the first Akha. Many ceremonies, performed at Akha festivals and other special events, required this recitation. Sadly though, as Akha people come into increased contact with outside cultures, this tradition is being lost. 

Formerly, the Akha practiced a form of swidden agriculture, burning patches of forest and farming rice and vegetables for food on cleared land. When the land could no longer them, the Akha would move from one area to another, leaving the land to regenerate. The Akha also traded goods with other tribes, and during the 20th Century many villages also harvested opium. Wealth was accumulated in the form of silver coins and jewellery incorporated into the elaborate dress of Akha women.

In Thailand, bans on clearing forests mean that the Akha people have been forced to find alternative forms of agriculture. Others have had the opportunity to receive an education and find other means of making a living. But as communities start to integrate into mainstream society, it is important  to ensure that their traditions and culture are not completely lost.

Akha Culture

Visitors walking into an Akha village might be surprised at the pair of wooden sculptures set up near the town door: a giant male and female body, facing each other in the act of making love. The town door, or gate, is a free-standing wooden structure set up just next to the sculptures. Under no circumstances should a visitor touch the gate! The gate is meant to keep evil spirits away from the village, and if disturbed, an elaborate and costly ceremony must be performed to reinstate the peace.

Another visible part of Akha culture is the Akha swing. The swing is made from four wooden poles supporting each other high in the air. A piece of rope hanging from the top is used to swing through the air. The use of the swing is reserved for special occasions such as the women's New Year Festival held in August or September.

The statues, gate and swing are all important parts of the "Akha Way," the system of traditional Akha beliefs. Other parts of the Akha Way include the ancestral alter in each home, wooden spears made for the annual gate ceremony, the village water source, special village tree, and village burial grounds. These items and areas should never be touched by outsiders!

The Akha are considered a very strong people. They tend to be short and strongly-built. In Thailand, many Akha work in the rice fields. Some villages have their own fields while others work as hired labour. At certain times of the year it is not uncommon to see trucks, with 20 or more Akha people sitting in the back, racing home along the highway at the end of a long day harvesting.

Akha villages often have more than one name. Sometimes the Thai name reflects a physical characteristic in the area. In this case, the Akha put the word 'Akha' at the end of the name. At other times, the village is referred to by the headman, and the word 'pu,' meaning 'village,' is put at the end of the head man's name.

There are over 100 Akha clans, each with slight differences in dress or even speech, though not all of these clans are represented in Thailand. Akha society is quite patriarchal, and women generally do not have any leadership role. The clan name is used as the family name in official papers.

Twins are considered very bad luck in Akha culture and in the past were killed soon after birth, although this practice is now rare.

Akha History

Akha is the name the Akha call themselves, but Thai people call them Ekaw, a name the Akha do not like. There is a people group called the Hani that is very closely related to the Akha living in the Red River Area in China, as well as another group in China known as Aini or Yani who also call themselves Akha.

Most of the Akha living in Thailand today migrated south from Yunnan province in China, or from Burma, sometime during the last 50 years. The majority of Akha people live outside Thailand: roughly 300,000 in Yunnan province, 200,000 in Kengtung state, Burma, with 70,000 and 60,000 in Thailand and Laos respectively.

Most of the Akha people in Thailand live in Chiang Rai province, not far from the office of MMF. In fact, if one were to rent a motorbike and ride north of Chiang Rai, pretty much any left-hand turn would take one up into the mountains and past multiple Akha villages. Some Akha also live in Chiang Mai, Lampang and Tak provinces.

Akha Dress

Akha dress is easy to recognize and has many distinct parts. The main colors are red and black, and women's outfits also incorporate a great deal of silver, especially in the elaborate headdresses decorated with dangling silver coins.

The women often seem to be hidden behind the many layers of the Akha costume, with just their faces and knees poking out. The headdresses vary from clan to clan, but most are elaborate and heavy and include a silver board propped up at the back of the head and a 'helmet' made of silver bobbles. The black shirt usually has lines of solid color sewn into the fabric, and the women wear many, many layers of beaded (often white) necklaces. The shirt is worn over a black knee-length apron/skirt, and black cloth heavily stitched with colorful solid lines are wrapped around the calves.

The black pants and shirts worn by men are usually much less detailed than those of the women. Sometimes men wear black vests with colored lines stitched onto the back, but even the most elaborate male outfit pales in comparison to those worn by Akha women!

Both genders often carry matching bags, black with red and other solid-color lines sewn in and a beaded fringe.

There are three main styles of dress:

U lo is a pointed headdress, a style worn by Akha who have lived in Thailand for many years. About 25 different clans wear this style.

Loi Mi, named after a large mountain in Burma, is a style of flat headdresses worn by many migrants from Burma. Thai Akha often call them U Bya, meaning "flat headdress."

 Pa Mi is a style confined to the Mah Po clan. Though the name comes from a village in Thialnd, the style is worn by Mah Po in China, Burma and Thailand.

Akha Language

Akha has two writing systems, one using Thai and one using English letters. The English system is more common, and can be read by most Christian Akha.

The main Akha dialect is spoken in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and the Yunnan province of China. Local variations are not major, although the three distinct Akha groups living in Thailand each have a slightly different dialect.

Akha language does not actually have a word for 'go' or 'come'! Perhaps reflecting the fact that Akha traditionally live in the mountains, Akha use words meaning "come from lower" and "go to lower," for locations south or lower down the mountain, and "come from upper" and "go to upper," for locations north or higher in the mountain. So if you want to talk about coming and going, you have to know where to or from before you can speak! There are certain subjects which are taboo among non-Christian Akha: twins, hail, flowers, and death for example. It is also improper to ask an Akha person the name of their spouse.

Akha greet each other with the words: "Oo-doo-to-mah"

Thank you is "Guu-law-her-mah!"

If you want to ask if something hurts you can say, "Aloe mee alo?"

If you tell an Akha person hello or thank you in Akha, you will get a big grin in response -- many Akha people can speak Thai but they love to see visitors using their own language!

Akha Festivals

Akha people love to party! The festivals and other celebrations differ depending on what religion the people follow, but all Akha love to gather and eat together. Most Akha who follow the "Akha Way" of traditional Akha beliefs involving ancestral worship have nine major ancestral offerings each year. Outsiders can't come into house while the offering is being made, and villagers don't go to work in the fields. The days differ from village to village, depending on the 'auspicious day' of the village founder.

The holidays include:

Ga tah pa eu, the New Year offering.

K'm shui, an offering to help hunters, involving coloring chicken eggs

K'm mi, in honour of the village founder

Ceh ka, rice planting

Yeh ku, women's New Year, one of the few times the village swing can be used. This is to help ensure women's continuing good health.

Zaw la la-eu, an offering to ensure plentiful crops

Ya ci ci-eu, chicken plucking offering

Ka yeh yeh-eu, driving evil spirits from the village. This is one of the few ceremonies that outsiders are able to watch.

Ceh nm, offering for new rice.

Other major village ceremonies include Law kah m-eu, the renewal of the village gate. Mi sah cu sah law-eu is an offering to the "lords and rulers of land and water," performed at a special tree outside the village.

Akha Food and Recipes

Akha food is particularly spicy! The Akha love to pile on the chilies for their nam prik, or chili sauce, eaten with most meals. Rice is also eaten with most meals, though Akha people often eat a harder, shorter-grained rice than that eaten by Thai people.

Food is usually served either on a small round tray around which everyone sits, or directly on banana leaves placed on bamboo floor mats. People eat handfuls of rice with pieces of fresh herbs and vegetables from the pile that often includes mint, basil, green beans, and many especially bitter plants. The rice and raw vegetables are then dipped in any of the various chili sauces which are served with the meal. Barbequed or raw pork mixed with spicy herbs mixed are also popular dishes.

Visitors to an Akha village should always stop in at least one home to have a drink or snack. Visitors will certainly be offered something, such as the strong tea Akha people love to drink from bamboo cups. If they don't partake, they might be mistaken for an intruder!

Pad Prik King (Stir-Fried Ginger and Chili)

    1. Fry 2-3 mashed cloves of garlic in 1/4 cup of oil; add 10 chopped bird (Thai) chilies and about 1/2 cup ginger, sliced (not diced) into small pieces.

    2. Let fry for 3-5 minutes, then add roughly 1 cup chopped chicken innards (or, if you prefer, any part of any animal)

    3. Add 2-3 shakes of fish sauce or salty soy sauce, and 2-3 shakes of oyster sauce or thick, sweet soy sauce.  Add 1 tsp. MSG.  Add more to taste.

    4. Cook 5-10 minutes till the meat is fully cooked.

    5. Add 1-2 cups chopped "hoo noo" mushrooms. These thin black mushrooms (literally translated as mouse ear mushrooms), are usually available from Asian grocery stores. If using dried form soak in hot water before cooking.

    6. Cut 2 large spring onions (white and green parts) into small pieces, add and stir briefly, then remove from the heat and serve with rice.

  Lap Moo (Pork Salad)

    1. Combine the following:

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          2-3 tbsp. chopped mint leaves
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          3 stalks lemongrass, chopped up to the end of the whitish part
        *

          1 sliced tomato
        *

          3 diced bird (Thai) chilies (but not so small you can't find & avoid eating them!)
        *

          Roughly 1 cup chopped cilantro (coriander)
        *

          1 tsp MSG
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          A few shakes of fish sauce
        *

          2 spring onions sliced (use white and green parts)

    2. Boil meat pieces till cooked through, then grill to bring out the flavor.  Innards were used in this version of the salad; you may use whichever animal & parts are pleasing to you.  Chop into bite-sized pieces and toss with above ingredients.

    3. Squeeze juice of 2 limes onto the salad and toss.

  Mee's Nam Prik (Chili Sauce)

    1. Puncture 2 tomatoes with a knife then roast, along with 4-5 bird (Thai) chilies on the coals of a decent fire.  Allow to blacken on the outside, then discard the blackened bits of the tomato, chop the head off the chilies, and add all to mortar.

    2. Add to mortar:  3-4 cloves garlic, the chopped up whitish bit of one lemongrass stalk, 2-3 stalks finely chopped cilantro (coriander), 1 finely chopped spring onion, and 1 tsps. each MSG and salt.

    3. Use pestle to pulverize into a warm, fragrant, mushy sauce.