Our First Lahu New Year

 

Lahu elder playing the flute and leading the
New Year's dance in the inner circle. This
photo is from a 2005 celebration in
Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai was the headquarters for not only the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention but also, the headquarters of the Lahu Baptist Convention of Thailand. The Lahu and Karen are separate ethnic groups with distinct languages, cultures, traditions, alphabets etc. and just a couple of some 70 different ethnic groups that call Thailand home. Both the Lahu and Karen are “native” to Thailand having lived in the area since before the borders were created but also, both groups would have had many migrate from Burma (Lahu and Karen), Laos (Lahu) and China (Lahu) in more recent decades and years.

The Karen Baptists in Thailand are credited with first evangelizing the Lahu and initially the Lahu were seen as part of the Karen church. However, growth, language and cultural differences eventually led to the Lahu forming their own Baptist Convention. But the two organizations still share an office building in Chiang Mai (The Northern Baptist Office) and keep a relationship alive. From a missionary viewpoint, we had missionaries that worked with both the Lahu and Karen and the missionaries would support each other’s work as they could.

In that spirit of cooperation and support, Marcia had been teaching English to Lahu students at a hostel

Marcia with some young Lahu women in 
traditional clothing in 1984.

in Chiang Mai and there were weekly joint worship services at the Northern Baptist Office. So, even as missionaries to the Karen, it was natural for us to be invited to attend our first Lahu New Year celebration in February of 1984.

The timing of Lahu New Year coincides with Chinese New Year but it is a totally different celebration. The Chinese have dragons and fireworks while the Lahu have dancing and a feast. I suppose much of the Lahu celebration has been carried over from old, animist traditions but has been Christianized.

The central activity is dancing. An umbrella will be set up for shade and around the base of the umbrella large chunks of pork meat are placed. In an inner circle fairly close to the umbrella and meat, male elders will play multi-reed flutes and dance a rather intricate dance involving lifting a leg, then jumping and stomping off the other leg all while playing the flute. Around the inner circle of the dancers, there might be some younger males trying to follow the steps of the elders so they one day can join the inner circle. I understand the meat represents the abundance of God’s blessings and the dancing represents gratitude to God for supplying that abundance.

Marcia joining in on the dance in the
outer circle. Feb. 1984

Around the inner circle, a larger circle is formed by women, men, children, and whoever wants to join in on a much less intricate dance. It was in this outer ring that the missionaries would join. Marcia and I joined in, though I must confess, I wasn’t very good even doing the simple dance. But it was fun anyway and I don’t think we were unduly judged.

The Lahu love their pork so the evening feast was heavy on pork and of course, rice was the base. Like some other groups, the Lahu would also pound sticky rice into almost a flour, then roast it into a chewy rice cake. So there was plenty of food to go along with the dancing. The New Year celebration was also an overall cultural celebration so all the Lahu dressed in their traditional finery. It was an enjoyable festival and a joy to witness the Lahu be the people God made them to be.

The site for the celebration was Goshen village. Goshen was one of the first villages to become Christian and was the home of many that would become leaders among the Lahu church. Thus, it was often used as a central gathering place. Accommodating modern work schedules, the main New Year event was held on a Saturday. Sunday there was a worship service then it was time for all of us Chiang Mai based people to return home.