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Christian conversion threatens hill tribe
culture
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
MAE YAO, Thailand - The hill tribes of northern
Thailand have survived centuries of displacement,
hardship and discrimination. But now their uniquely
colorful culture is under a new threat, albeit a
well-meaning one: Christian evangelism.
Ake
Chermu has a pivotal role in this village, where faith
in animism runs deep. Ake, 67, is the shaman, the
religious leader who keeps alive the ceremonies
associated with the rice harvest or when new homes of
bamboo are built.
For the moment, this community
of the Akha hill tribe in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai
province still honors Ake. They let him lead them in the
close to 20 religious rituals, some of them including
animal sacrifices, that they have across the year.
Yet the shaman turns melancholy as he ponders on
how long this essential feature of Akha life will be
around. "I am worried about the change. Because to be
Akha, you have to follow all the rituals," said Ake, who
cuts a quiet figure with his small build, his watery
brown eyes and his soft voice.
The source of his
worry lies in a neighboring Akha village - Christianity
has made its presence felt there, causing the community
to trade the shaman and animism for the Bible and
monotheism.
On Sundays, this village exudes an
air of enthusiasm toward this new faith as people sing
hymns to the accompaniment of guitars in two churches
and listen to young preachers deliver passionate
sermons.
For women such as Mi Pa, 41, a recent
convert to the Baptist Church, her Akha village has put
a stop to events that marked the Akha culture - the
annual swing ceremony, building the wooden spirit gate
and the harvest festivals.
"The priest asked us
to stop the old traditions, which included worshipping
spirits," she said. "Now we have Christmas. The entire
village celebrates."
But now, it is not only the
likes of Ake who are troubled by this shift to
Christianity among the Akha, one of the six main tribal
communities that have carved out a colorful niche in
this mountainous part of the country along the Myanmar
border.
Concern is increasingly being expressed
also from an unlikely quarter - tour guides who operate
in Chiang Rai.
After all, the hill tribes are
the main draw that attracts tourists in the thousands to
northern Thailand - a fact amplified by the posters and
postcards of the hill-tribe people that are visible in
the local airport and in the shop windows along Chiang
Rai's narrow streets.
"Tourists come here
expecting to see a village that is very authentic and
typical of the hill tribe culture. So they are not happy
when they find churches in the villages," said Charlie
Keereekhamsuk, a tourist guide for more than six years.
An increasing number of guides and tour
companies are opting against taking tourists to villages
where the people have converted to Christianity, he
said. "There is a big difference in the village culture
after the churches have come in. In Akha villages, it is
very clear."
An Akha cultural-rights activist is
hardly surprised by such growing concern, given the
inroads that church groups, largely from the United
States, have made over past 40 years.
"They have
succeeded in converting close to 50 percent of the Akha
villages in Thailand, and they are aggressively going
after the rest," said Mathew McDaniel of the Akha
Heritage Foundation, based in the Thai town of Mae Sai.
"Tourists don't want to see these tribal people
with a church foisted on them," he said. "They are
offended by what is happening: people being made clones
of groups like the Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians,
other Protestant churches and Catholics from Italy."
One day, McDaniel argues, the Akha identity in
this part of Thailand may well cease to exist. "Their
rituals, the spirit healing, belief in animism is what
makes them Akha. It gives them their cultural identity,
their unique place in the world."
Pastor Kenu
Chalermliamthong, however, sees it differently. The
hill-tribe people can still retain their culture even
after converting, since it is "only one aspect of their
lives - religion", said Kenu, a Baptist minister who
belongs to the Karen hill tribe.
The churches
are not asking the hill tribes to change their clothes
or the way they live, he added. "But when they convert,
the people have to give up their old customs and habits,
superstitions and faith in animism."
Currently,
there are more than 70,000 Akha living in close to 300
villages spread across the forested parts of northern
Thailand. Besides the Akha, the other ethnic groups who
make up the nearly 1 million hill-tribe population in
this Southeast Asian country are the Lahu, Lisu, Yao,
Hmong and Karen.
The majority of Thailand's 62
million people are Buddhists and the country respects
the individual's right to religious freedom.
Consequently, the local media, government officials and
the Buddhist clergy have treated as a non-issue the
spread of Christianity among the hill-tribe people
reputed for their belief in animism.
"Thai
governments have shown little attention to the
hill-tribe communities," Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, an
anthropologist at Chiang Mai University, said in an
interview. "They have also ignored them on economic and
social matters."
Studies done by Chayan have
revealed that the hill-tribe people often convert
because of the perceived benefits church groups offer.
"They are assured education, scholarships and health
services," he said. "It is these benefits and not
religious passion that have attracted more hill-tribe
people to convert."
In this new religious
environment, "the shamans and the spirit and cultural
leaders have no place", Chayan said. "The old,
traditional knowledge that has been passed down to the
community comes to an end."
According to Budsaba
Maiwong of the Chiang Rai-based Mae Salong Tour Co,
visits to the hill-tribe villages and overnight stays
are what 70 percent of the tourists arriving in Chiang
Rai request. "It is so popular because it is unique, the
way the hill-tribe people live, the way they dress. It
is different from the rest of the country."
These semi-nomadic people migrated to Thailand
from Burma (now Myanmar), southern China and Tibet a
long time ago, and have lived on mountain slopes in
villages that appear untouched by the many advances in
modernity. An Akha house, for instance, is made of
bamboo and has no windows and food is prepared over an
open fire.
It is shamans such as Ake who helped
give these semi-nomadic communities their unique
character by keeping alive the flame of animism. "You
cannot be a proper Akha person, relate to our history,
ancestors, if you give up spirit worship," he said.
(Inter Press Service)
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