Hill Tribal Crafts II

Hill Tribes:

- Karen or Kayin (Burmese pronunciation) or Kariang (Thai pronunciation) is the most population tribe in Thailand, mostly on the Thai-Burmese border, in the hills bordering eastern region and Irrawaddy delta of Burma, and in the northern west of Thailand. 

Believe that they migrated from Mongolia around 2,000 years ago by Chinese military invasion to Tibet and moved more and more southern areas of Yangtze river & Salween River through Kra Isthmus (called in Thai as kor kôt grà) of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province of Thailand.

There are four mainly groups of Karen in Thailand: 

- S’gaw (sa ko) or Pgaz K’Nyau (p-nya kae h-yow), the most population of Karen 

- Pwo (po) live in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun of Thailand and Kayin State, Burma. 

- Pa-o or Thaung Thu (called in Thai as tong-su) live in Mae Hong Son 

- Kayah live in Mae Hong Son

Many pretty crafts from Karen are attractive to travelers around the world, e.g. Karen silver earrings, pendants, necklaces. (please see in 'Tribal Crafts (Thailand & Burma)' category of Craft World shop in this blog.)

(To be continued)