Farming

The Karen agriculture is a cycle, they take a time around 7-10 years for the dwelling system to recover the land. In that farm have many plants like 2-3 rice’s breeds, 2-3 beans breeds, cucumber, Pumpkin, the wax gourd and many spices. The Karen people believe that agriculture is standing on the bamboo lumber, means the product not certainly, depend on the soil quality and the weather in each year.   1.The process and the cycle of Agriculture Choose the place for agriculture Around February, Karen people will choose the place for their farm, meaning the product and the cycle of the news years start again. When they have the place for a farm, they will mark a cross on the tree to let all the people around know. The process for choose the area to have agriculture. Without the forbidden forest in the tradition. Without restrain of choose the place for a farm in tradition. Do not have an omen. When they choose the place for a farm already, around one week later, the head family prays before they have to mow a grasses “The spirit please go out, a god please go out, the problem please go out from this place because I would like to mow the grasses and grow up the vegetables in this place, I fear that all of you do not have the place to live. If the plan it died, it can reborn, the bamboo died, it can reborn because this place is the ancestor used to live” after they praying, the villager will mow some grasses before go back home. This is the ceremonial for a paddy field. 2.To do a paddy farming When they have to scatter seeds, the people in the village come to help each other. The way to scatter seed is a man makes a hole and women put the seed inside the hole, all day they can not change their work. When they finish scattering seed and having some seed to be left, the woman who is the first one put some seeds in to the last hole, then all the people go to their several ways. The ceremonial to be relate of the paddy farm. 1. Eat rice The seeds that remain from the scatter in the field, the owner will boil rice to be an alcohol. They asked the first couple who dig a hole and put a seed in the hole come to join and invite the elderly come to offering the alcohol to the spiritual and prays for their plant to thrive. They call this ceremonial is “Eat sprout seed” 2. Offering food for the spiritual Around 2 months, when rice grows up, the villager will have a ceremonial to take offering the foods and have many insignificant detail i.e. offering food and blessing, offering food to ward off molest, offering fire god etc. All of this offering usually used the same foods but different in the praying. 3. Offering food, ask blessing The objective of this ceremonial is to ask blessing from the god to come to help the rice grow up and have a good product. The food to offering the god is a chicken, 2 alcohol bottles, the areca nut, the cigarettes, chilly, salt and the lime neutralized by turmeric. 4. Offering food to ward off molest The word that the villager use to pray is “I use to work here and have some wild animal come a cross to you like a tiger, snake, a barking deer, a centipede and you suffering the trouble. Today I give offering the food to ward off molest to you and you will have a peaceful” 5. Offering food to the fire’s god The praying is “fire, I use you to burn the grasses, break a stump, break a bamboo. Today I will offering you to have a quiet and cool, don’t hot until burn all my paddy and all the vegetables that I plants in the field” 6. Offering food to the rice’s god             The praying is “the mysterious principle, come back, 10 breeds rice, the breeds from the north, from the south please come back, come to live in the paddy field  and to be rich in this place” 7. The ceremonial to let a bad thing out from the field The praying is “A paddy field, today I will give the food to you for chase a bad thing get out, ward off rat, ward off bird and ward off termite. If it has something come to eat you, a wilt go with them, you still alive also” Nowadays The paddy field to be lost from the way of Karen living because the society change, the modern thing come to village, have a new trade instead of this old way of Karen living.

Send this page to your friends

http://akha.hilltribe.org