THAI HILL TRIBE KAREN SILVER SWORD DAVID HOWARD TRIBAL ART THAI HILL TRIBE KAREN SILVER SWORD

The Karen are know for their silver work especially their antique silver swords that are considered status symbols. They migrated into Thailand around the 17th century and live in large numbers in the western part of Northern Thailand, in particular on the ranges west and south of Doi Inthanon. The main groups in Thailand are White Karen composed of the Skaw and the Pwo sub groups. The Karen live in villages of around 25 houses raised on stilts. Each household consists of the parents and their unmarried children. The highest authority is the village priest who runs the village along with the elders. The Karen are animists. They also have guardian spirits and believe in the soul. Their desire for harmony with nature may account for the Karen having the most ecologically sound system of swidden agriculture. The majority of the Karen live in Burma, and yet they also form the largest major tribe in northern Thailand. There are as many as 280,000 Karens living in Thailand. They can be found living both in the mountains and on the plains, most of them in the provinces of Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Sorn, Chiang Rai, but also in central Thailand. They live in bamboo houses raised on stilts, beneath which live their domestic animals, pigs, chickens and buffalos. The mountain-dwelling Karens practice swidden agriculture, and the plains-dwellers, for the most part, cultivate irrigated paddy fields.