Lawa

The Lawa, or Lua, people could well have been in Thailand the longest time of all. Related to the Wa ‘head hunters’ of Burma, the Lawa say they have been in Northern Thailand since around the 8^th century, while scholars believe they may have been in the region for at least 1000 years, a number of centuries before the Tai speaking peoples arrived. Other scholars, still, believe the Lawa migrated from Micronesia, a grouping of 1000’s of small islands in the western pacific, some 2000 years ago.

For the people of northern Thailand the Lawa were once of a powerful kingdom, and still revere the last Lawa king who is believed to be a guardian spirit. Over the years the Lawa have assimilated into, and been accepted by, Thai society with particular ease, and this is thought by one source to be because the founding father of northern Thailand, King Mangrai, was himself half Lawa.

It is believed that up until 100 years ago the Karen paid regular tributes to the Lawa for residing on their land. This practice ceased when the Thai (Siamese) declared all land government property and began collecting taxes themselves.

Today the Lawa who have not been assimilated into mainstream Thai society still live in the hills of Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son at the lower inclines, keeping up their cultural traditions, rituals and practicing subsistence farming.

Language

Austro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer family

Two Lawa dialects: Eastern and Western, the latter being the biggest but they are mutually unintelligible.

Population

17,000

Appearance / Dress

Lawa women are identified by their distinctive orange / yellow beads, loose white cotton shirt with pink hem / trim, tight sarong with parallel bands of blue, black, yellow and pink. After marriage a fawn coloured long dress is typically worn.