AKHA

AKHA
The Akha are an ethnic group who migrated originally from China, Myanmar and decided to settle down in the upper northern region of Thailand. Nowadays, they live in small villages at higher elevations in the mountains and prefer to make a living from agriculture on the highland areas. However, the highland areas aren’t well-suited for agriculture, so the Royal Project plays an important role to support them with offering the sustainable agriculture processes.
All of the Akha respected the spirits in the past, but now many Akha people convert their traditional beliefs to be Christians. Though we still see offerings such as a spirit gate adorned with elaborate wood carving which make village’s atmosphere more mystical.
In terms of the Akha’ s clothes in the past, Akha women always had to dress up with full traditional clothes. In some strict families, the Akha females who didn’t wear the adult woman’s headdress (weighs around 2 kilograms) weren’t allowed to cook food for their husbands. At present, the Akha women will dress up traditional clothes for special ceremonies such as New Year’s Day, Christmas Day, or even in areas that have many tourists visiting to their villages. Additionally, traditional clothes are worn for showing in public.
Today, most Akha people prefer to wear fashionable clothes, having their own cars, and living in concrete houses. Some houses set up home Wi-Fi which is the fifth factor of basic human needs like city people. They have adjusted their way of life to the world changes like us along with their cultures that gradually disappear.