The Akha swing ceremony, the best known of all hill-tribe rituals and celebrations, is held in mid-August and September when the rice and corn have matured and are almost ready for harvest, approximately two months before the harvest season.

The Akha are animists and believe that once elders have passed on into the spiritual world, they take on the role of guardian spirits who watch over the village and see to the welfare and well-being of their living relatives, providing an abundance of rice and crops, good health, security, wealth and prosperity needed to continue the family line. As a demonstration of their gratitude, Akha families and village communities take part in the annual swing ceremony, a sacred thanksgiving ritual in which, over a period of four days, families make ritual offerings to their ancestors. The formal ritual is accompanied by joyous celebrations in which families come together to celebrate. Merry-making, feasting, song and dance continue throughout the night.

The annual swing ceremony also marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood. For the first time in their life, Akha girls are dressed in their full adult attire, complete with a heavily-ornamented head-dress adorned with silver, fur, strings of beads, seeds, tassels made of brightly-dyed chicken feathers. For Akha girls and women, the costume and particularly the head-dress reflects stages in their life, evolving through childhood to adolescence and culminating in the elaborate adult attire worn for the first time at the annual swing ceremony.

With individuals seen to be the vital link between long-departed ancestors and the next generation, the Akha continue to care their ancestors well into the next life in the hope that when their time comes, their offspring will do the same for them. Continuity, particularly the relationship with ancestors, is of great importance in Akha culture and the tradition of ancestor worship is well-established.

THE AKHA SWING CEREMONY

First Day
On the first day of the four-day ceremony, family members gather at approximately 11.00 a.m. to help prepare ritual offerings consisting of one red or black chicken, wine, tea leaves, ginger and other sacred items to be offered to ancestors at noon. After dark, song and dance continue through the night.

Second Day
The construction of the ceremonial village swing is the main focus of the proceedings on the second day.

The entire village community is involved in the swing ceremony. Seniority prevails in the conduct of the rituals. The village priest and the village elders lead the ceremonies.

Before breakfast, each household constructs a small swing in the immediate area of the home. After breakfast, villagers gather at the residence of the dzoe ma, the village priest and ‘father of the village’ to help build the new ceremonial swing for the coming year.

As village elders dismantle the old swing constructed in the previous year, young men set off into the nearby forests in search of trees from which the four poles of the ceremonial swing are made.

As village priest and ‘father of the village’, the dzoe ma is responsible for the health, welfare and ceremonial life of the whole village and is the master of ceremony. The dzoe ma digs holes in the ground for the main pole and a new swing is erected on the site of the old one. Four poles are lashed together to form a pyramid. A vine is suspended from the apex of the pyramid; the loose ends are tied into an ‘eye’, through which a plank of wood is placed to form the wooden seat of the swing.

The swing ceremony begins with ritual offerings being made to the ancestors to ensure a good crop and a bountiful harvest. The ancestral offerings consist of grass, stones and vines are bundled together and tied to the swing, then oscillated three times. Next, it is the village priest’s turn on the swing, followed by the elders and then other members of the community, in order of seniority. As on the first day, feasting, song and dance continues through the night.

Third Day
Ritual offerings of wine, tea leaves, ginger and other sacred items are made to ancestors at dawn. Villagers spend the day preparing for a grand feast in the evening.

Fourth and Final Day
The swing ceremony is the main activity on the evening of the final day. The village priest as the master of ceremony marks the end of the annual swing ceremony and the ceremonial village swing is left standing, but undisturbed, until the ceremony comes around once again the following year. The cycle is then repeated.

Continuity being a central element of Akha culture and tradition, every step of the ritual is performed in accordance with the Akha way – a ‘code’ that governs all aspects of Akha life. These include sets of beliefs, practices, customs and traditions that have been committed to memory and passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth – the only way of preserving the past in a culture with no written history.

With many aspects of their culture and way of life well preserved, these ethnic communities are of immense ethnographic interest and importance to the study and preservation of the rich cultural heritage of Asia. Access to education, vocational training and a range of employment opportunities enables ethnic minority groups in the project area to preserve their heritage whilst progressing into modernity.

They earn a steady income and have become self-sufficient. As a result, there has been a substantial improvement in their standard of living and quality of life. The village communities have managed to achieve a level of sustainable development that fosters the harmonious co-existence of indigenous culture and the surrounding natural environment.

ACCOMMODATION
is available at Doi Tung Lodge.
Please click to view

Contact information:
Doi Tung Development Project

Bangkok Office:
Tel: +66 (0) 2252 7114 Ext 217
Fax: +66 (0) 2254 1665
Web site: www.doitung.org
E-mail: tourism@doitung.org

Tourism and Services Centre in Chiang Rai
Tel: +66 (0) 5376 7015 – 17
Fax: +66 (0) 5376 7077