|
 |
| The Hmong In North Thailand |
The Hmong People belong to the Austro-Thai linguistic family of the
Miao-Yao sub group. The Hmong are a significant ethnic minority in
South West China and there are many sub groups. The sub groups in
Thailand are the Black Hmong, White Hmong and Stripped Hmong. Today
they inhabit the Upper Northern Provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai,
Nan, Phayao, Lampang, Phrae and Mae Hong Son and the Lower Northern
Provinces of Phetchabun, Tak and Phitsanulok. They can also be found in
Loei in I 'san.
|
| Hmong Sub Groups In Thailand |
The Black Hmong are located in Nan, Chiang Rai, Tak, Phrae, northern
Phetchabun and Phitsanulok. They are distinguished by their costume.
Their women wear their hair in a bun and wear dark blue and white
pleated knee length skirts with embroidered borders. The men wear a
black or dark blue jacket without collar and have wide sleeves and
cuffs. Both women and men wear alot of jewelry made of silver.
The Striped Hmong can be found in the west of Nan. They wear Black
trousers with a dark jacket with embroidered collars and green, white
and blue stripes on their long sleeves.
The White Hmong are to be found in Nan and Chiang Rai. Their women wear
long loose dark blue trousers with plain long sleeved jackets with
embroidered collar flaps and a turban. On festive occasions they wear a
white skirt with stripes of embroidery down the front [ thus their name
].
|
 |
Hmong Beliefs
The Hmong in Thailand believe in a mixture of animism and shamanism
with ancestor worship. Villages have spirit shrines to protect from
evil. There are village and house spirits. The Hmong bury their dead
and believe each person has 3 souls, and that upon death, one goes to
heaven , one goes to be reincarnated and the other remains in the grave
with the corpse.
The Hmong are recorded in Chinese annals as early as the 3rd century
B.C. They then originated in the Yangtze Basin but were pushed South to
Kweichow Province in China. By the 17th Century the Han then took
authority over the region leading to dissatisfaction and migration of
some Hmong further South.
Those that went to Laos in the later part of the 20th century found
themselves at war with the Pathet Lao, supporting the Americans, only
to be crushed and forced to leave.
|
|
|
|
| Hmong Ladies Costumes In North Thailand |
|
Recommended Books About The Hmong
|
|
|
|
|
| Thai Black Hmong Girl In Costume |
|
|
