The Padaung

      

 The Padaung people mostly live in the southern Shan and Kayah States of  Myanmar, in villages around Demawso and Loikow.

 

The Padaung are essentially agriculturists and hunters. They mostly produce rice and corn, cotton, pumpkins, peas, beans, ginger, sugarcane, bananas and tobacco and are just self-sufficient. Padaung women practice weaving for their own use after harvesting.

 

The age of a village can often be guessed at from the size of its jackfruit trees. Houses are made of woven and split bamboo with palm leaf roofs and a spacious, open terrace where the Padaung sit in the shade in front of their looms, spinning and weaving cotton textiles, blankets and tunics. Some of the bamboo walls are stained blue where cloth has been hung to dry.

       

All the bachelors and the widowers live in a hostel in a Padaung village. Once they marry, they leave the hostel. The day for a marriage is chosen by killing a pig and looking at the state of the pig’s liver. The people of the tribe avoid marriage between relatives, to the extent of nine generations.

 

Some Padaung are Christians, but the majority remain Buddhists.

 

The Padung woman is very easy to identify by the brass coils that are placed around the neck. The wearing of these rings showers respect on the wearer's family. These decorations express the Padaung women's own concept of beauty and social ranking but there are other theories concerning the origins of these rings. Still many Padaung girls are fitted with the rings at the age of five or six. First the neck is carefully smeared with a salve and massaged for several hours. Often small cushions and kerchiefs are fitted under the rings to prevent soreness.  Every year one more ring is added. The rings are heavy, weighing almost 30 pounds. The rings do not elongate the neck, but they do push down the collarbone and ribs, creating the illusion of a long neck. The weight of the rings twists the collar bone and eventually the upper ribs at an angle, 45 degrees lower than what is natural. Brass rings are worn on arms and legs too.

Most women prefer to continue wearing the rings, as the area of the neck and collarbone often becomes bruised and discolored. Additionally, the collar feels like an integral part of the body after ten or more years of continuous wear.