Monday, April 29, 2013

Long Necked Karen Tribal Women of Burma

It is always very fascinating to see people follow their age-old traditions and practices that you would never see in the cities. Myanmar is a land of many tribes and hence it would not be surprising to see many of these ancient habits and traditions. Such a tribe are the Long Necked Karens, who are known for their giraffe necks.

Long Necked Karen Women of Inle Lake, Burma
These tribal women live in the Shan state of Myanmar and have also sought refugee in Thailand to seek better employment opportunities. These women wear heavy brass rings that weigh as much as 2 kilograms in their neck right from a very young age. It is believed that the long necks make their women look beautiful. Today, a lot of these tribal women have stopped this practice for their children, but still follow for themselves to make some money from tourism as tourists are happy to pay to see these giraffe necked women.

The heavy bronze rings that give these women their long necks
These women spend their time weaving scarves, longyis and other clothes and design wooden crafts. I saw them living peacefully in one of the villages on Inle Lake in the Shan State of Myanmar.

4 comments:

  1. R Niranjan DasApril 29, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    Interesting cultures.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/04/vythiri-gateway-to-wild-wayanad.html

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  2. Sankara Subramanian CMay 13, 2013 at 3:14 PM

    Yeah.

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  3. Jane GloverJune 3, 2013 at 9:07 PM

    Absolutely wonderful pictures!!! I'm fascinated by these 'long necked' women! It is an old tradition and is thought to make the women look beautiful yes, but I'm not sure how ethical the amount of tourism it creates in the present day is. This article definitely made me think about the ethical factors, apparently a Marie Claire article likened the tourism generated by these women to a 'human zoo.' : http://www.myanmarburma.com/en/pages/blog/377/giraffe-women-kooky-custom-or-human-zoo

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  4. Sankara Subramanian CJune 19, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    Thank you Jane! Thankfully, they are treated well in Myanmar. It is in Thailand that they are mistreated for the sake of income from tourism.

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