The Beauty of the Karen Women
The Karen are a remote people. They live in social units that are protective of the tribe and Karen people as a whole. Today, a small number of Karen-Padaung tribes reside in Thailand. Among the many Karen traditions is that of beautifying the women of the tribe. This unique method of adornment goes back a long way, and the Karen-Padaung of Mae Hong Sorn and Phrae continue these traditions today.
In the Mae Hong Sorn and Bann Thaton area, the women of the Karen-Padaung villages wear brass rings around the neck, arms and legs. For this tribe, the rings are the most prominent sign of female beauty and status. The rings on the neck reach from the clavicle to beneath the chin, and the rings are always held very tightly by the bone structure. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old and as the neck grows longer, additional rings are added. It is from this practice that this tribe has gained the name of "Long Necks". One woman in Plam Piang Din Village wears 37 brass rings around her neck and this is considered ideal.
The Karen-Padaung in Phrae display their beauty and their status as married women by wearing carved elephant tusk in their ears. When a woman is married, her ears are pierced and an elephant tusk of one to four centimeters in length is inserted. During the early stages the ear pieces are quite small, especially for younger women. The weight of the tusks gradually weighs down on the ear lobe and the ear gets larger and larger, and longer and longer. Then larger tusks are inserted and the process repeats itself until the woman's ears become extremely elongated and floppy. The married woman wears these ear pieces for life. Please Pray for Christ’s love to be brought to the Karen people.
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