Akha The Akha, known by the Thais as the Gaw or the E-gaw, have inhabited Thai territory since the early 1900s, arriving in largest numbers after political unrest in China and Burma (Myanmar) in the 1950s and '60s. The Akha population in Thailand is difficult to measure, but it likely around 70,000. There are approximately 450 Akha villages in Thailand. Traditionally, the Akha are a semi-nomadic tribe whose beginnings have been traced to the highlands of Tibet, and are related closely with the Hani people of Yunnan Province in Southwestern China.

The Akha of Mae Yao make their living through a variety of methods. Rice and corn are the main crops, with many families also growing vegetables for their own consumption. Shortage of land is a critical problem as many Akha are without citizenship and, therefore, cannot buy land even if they have the means. As a supplement to farming, Akha women produce handsome traditional handicrafts for the tourist market. Younger members of the village, who often are economically forced to leave school before age 15, travel to the towns and cities to work, either as manual labor or in the bars and restaurants. In general, this work is undesirable and exploitation is rampant. Traditionally an opium-cultivating people, the drugs industry has also entered the lives of the Akha people of Mae Yao, usually meaning high risks for small rewards. The average Akha day laborer earns just 60 Baht a day ($1.5 US). This is well below the minimum wage of 130 baht/day, but many Akha either are without Thai citizenship or do not know their rights under Thai law.

The gender roles within Akha society are clearly defined. As is common with many of the hilltribes, when perceived through a Western eye, the woman of the household is seen to work harder than the man. She will be the one who works the fields, raises the children and keeps the house. The husband is responsible for building the house and hunting, as well as providing security and protection for the home.

Like most hilltribes, the Akha have a strong traditional spirituality that is in transition as exposure to outside religions increases. Of the thirty Akha villages in Mae Yao, only one remains strictly traditional. The rest have converted to Christianity with varying levels of ardor and varying repercussions within different communities, from being Christian primarily in name to rejecting all of their culture as satanic. The villages in Thailand still adhering exclusively to the Akha Way, the complex blend of myth, spirituality, animism and ritual which infuses every aspect of their lives and informs their entire code of conduct, fight an uphill battle to maintain their culture in the face of erosive influences of forestry land restrictions, formal education, missionaries, media and technology. Furthermore, in a market economy, as opposed to their traditional subsistence barter economy, ceremonies requiring animal sacrifice, which now have to be purchased, become an enormous financial burden instead of an occasion to for village communion and intake of protein.

In a traditional village, it is impossible to separate the Akha lifestyle from their intrinsic sense of spirituality: they are one and the same, they are the Akha Way. Everything important to the Akha people is imbued with an animist spirit: the trees, their houses, the river. Their villages, built at heights of usually around 1,000 feet on a mountain ridge, are believed to share the same space with the spirits of the land. The most important man in the village is traditionally the spirit priest, who will oversee all ritual and spiritual practice in the village. There is also a shaman, whose business in the spirit realm generally concerns the health of the villagers. Other important village members are the village elders, who act as a council and the settling body for disputes, the blacksmith and the village headsman, who acts as a go-between with the local Thai authorities.

In addition to influences of Christianity and animism, ancestor worship has a central role in Akha spirituality. Every Akha considers him or herself in the context of a direct line of progeny--which is memorized at an early age--and sees him or herself as the one responsible for continuing that line. The Akha hope that their descendants will honor them in the same way they honor their ancestors. This often involves a small ceremony in which the offering of food or a gift is made.

The Akha year is punctuated by a number of festivals coinciding with important periods of the agricultural calendar. The most famous of these is the four-day Swing Festival occurring between mid-August and mid-September, a time of celebration for the villagers and the traditional period of courtship for young couples. For these four days the swing is in near constant use, but for the remainder of the year the swing is a taboo object which is avoided by villagers and should not be touched by visitors. At either end of the village stands a gate reserved entirely for the passage of the spirits. Interference with these gates requires a series of complex cleansing and re-blessing rituals.

Ban Huay Khom Akha (also known as Ban Leepa), the village closest to the Mirror Art Group Center, is an Akha village. The desperate state of this Akha village caused the Mirror Art Group to refocus its efforts on hilltribes in Mae Yao sub-district.

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