In the northern part of Thailand, in the golden triangle as the area is called where the three countries, Burma-Laos-Thailand, converge, we meet the Karen ethnicity. One of the tribes of this ethnicity lives in a village in this area, the Long Neck Karen, where the "giraffe women" or "long neck women" live.
According to the customs and habits of this tribe, a long neck is a criterion of beauty, that's why the women wear a spiral necklace, which helps to elongate their neck by constantly pressing the lower jaw, thus making them more beautiful!
Ethnologists and historians put forward three additional hypotheses for this characteristic longneck habit. It is possible that they wore this bronze necklace for protection against the many tigers that once lived in parts of Burma and made frequent attacks on populated areas where the Karen lived, immobilizing and killing their victims by biting their necks.
Another possibility would be for reasons of identity and distinctiveness of their race. A hallmark of their diversity, in relation to other tribes of the Pataung-Karen ethnicity, that has stood the test of time.
A third hypothesis refers to the disposition of the tribe to resemble dragons which are the emblematic form of their mythology and religion.
The sight is strange, impressive, confusing, and has become in the last thirty years one of the most important tourist attractions of the region.
The area has tropical vegetation and various ethnic Karen tribes have found refuge there for many decades after being driven out of Burma.
The government - a military junta - was at war with the Karen ethnic group, which had separatist tendencies and advocated the creation of an independent state.
The Burmese authorities also wanted to show a more modern and civilized face to the outside world and viewed very negatively the continuation by various tribes of customs and traditions, such as that of women with long necks.
Thus many tribes were driven out and forced to leave the mountains of Kayah Province in Eastern Burma, where they had lived engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry for centuries, to settle in northern Thailand in the early 1990s.
The Thai government welcomed them and helped them settle, giving them space, land and building a village for these tribes.
The "giraffe women" and their village slowly became a tourist attraction, with the result that while at first Thailand's energy to welcome them had a positive impact, over time it became a point of tension and rivalry for many humanitarian organizations and international organizations who accuse Thailand of creating a peculiar "zoo" where the genuine tradition of the long nake tribe is sold out for touristic (ie economic) reasons for the benefit of a corrupt monarchy.
The "giraffe women" and their tribe now live off tourism. They sell various souvenirs that they make themselves and it is their main source of income.
According to many organizations "these unfortunate existences become objects of curiosity for visiting tourists, 'selling out' the uniqueness of their tradition, posing as strange creatures in a zoo"; all this in a supposedly traditional village, which is however entirely artificial and well directed by the Thai government. They discourage any visit and boycott the destination.
Still other organizations have a different approach.
They consider it positive that after being ousted by the Burmese government and threatened with extinction, the Long Neck Karen tribe was able to finally find a refuge to continue to survive, and encourage tourists to buy souvenirs to help m ´ this way the women and their families.
However, the village reminds them of other times, we hardly find traces of the modern way of life.
In the midst of nature, without electricity, without the presence of cars or two-wheelers, not even farm machines, they live with some pets and an impressive calm prevails.
Five different Karen tribes coexist and live harmoniously in this settlement.
Real or fake, copy or genuine, "zoo" or authentic traditional village, Long Neck Karen is a rarity.
Personally, I enjoyed it.
*Photos: thecommonsense;