Happy 2010 or 2553 in Thailand!!!
I had the opportunity to go to three of my students' villages in Mae Ai with Erika. It's a few hours away from Mae Sa Luang. It's Atiwat who is married to Fon, Wi Chai and Uaorawet's village. There were two, but they are within walking distance from each other. We spent New Year's weekend with them after our return from our beach vacation. It was so much fun getting to see where they live and their families. Everyone was so accommodating and welcoming. Even though they have very humble homes, they are willing and ready to give you everything they have.
It was Uaorawet's first time home since his accident. Everyone was very happy to see Uaroawet. It was nice to see how happy they were have him home. While it doesn't look exactly like he did before the accident, we think he looks great! Thank you for your prayers. After his last surgery, he looks almost back to his old self. He still sees double so prayers for recovery for his eye would be appreciated.
To celebrate the new year, they have many festivities. They DANCE alot, sing, play football, go to church, play a game with tops and EAT tons.
The dancing they do probably isn't what first comes to your mind when think about dancing. They have a dance caller who plays an instrument who you follow. It's a difficult wind instrument to play and only the skilled ones play at these events. No one knows the dances, so they say. Everyone who was Lahu picked up the dances quite quickly so I don't believe them! I think my students were lying to me. I was able to somewhat keep up. It was a lot like line dancing. I know some of you just rolled your eyes, but it was a neat cultural experience. Here's the catch, we were dancing in a circle around a pine tree. They said it was a Christmas tree, but it really didn't look like a Christmas tree to Erika or me. When our students invited us they said they wanted us to go home and dance with them. In reality, I think they just wanted to watch us attempt to dance so they could laugh at us! :) It was fun nonetheless. As they are dancing, some of them sing songs. My students usually have a song to sing.
The dancing and singing are done at night, but the festivities during the day are just as entertaining. First thing New Year's day we went to church only after have a delicious Thai breakfast. Fon spoiled us. After church they had this game/competition with giant wood tops. They have wooden tops they make and sticks with stings on them. They are on teams and throw them to see essentially whose spins the longest. They would try and knock each other's top over. This was only for the men and the women watch. If you were in the wrong spot, you could most definitely get knocked out and even potentially need to go to the hospital. The went on for a couple of hours.
Following the top tournament, it was time for what else, but football! They had many football games. They had a children's game, a woman's game where the married play against the single, then many men games. It was fun to watch. My students played as well as their families. They tried to get Erika and me to play. I declined due to the metal in my leg. The idea of getting kicked in the chin just made me cringe. So needless to say, I opted out. It looked like a ton of fun though.
Eating... during the entire day, I do not think I was ever hungry. We had yummy som tom, which is a spicy green papaya salad (one of my favorite things!), fried new sticky rice dipped in sugar (sticky rice is amazing! I don't think they have it in the US, though), we noodle dishes and much, much more food. There was always someone asking us if we were hungry or trying to give us sticky rice.
I didn't take a whole lot of pictures from the day as many of the events wouldn't really be depicted from photos. I did however take a few from one of the nights when we were at WiChai's village. I tried to catch a baby chick at his house, I failed miserably. My students thought it was hilarious as did Erika. At his village, we had a bonfire and then of course went dancing where WiChai's dad was the dance caller.
FiRe!
Everyone huddled around the fire.
My students Japur/Uaorwet and WiChai
The tree we danced around!
People caught in the act! If you look closely, you might see a farang person-- Erika.
I never thought I would ring in the New Year dancing around a tree in a Lahu village. It was a lot of fun. I loved meeting my students' families and see where they grew up. I don't think I've ever gone to be on New Year's Eve before 10pm since I was really young, but we were tuckered out from traveling and dancing.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my new year's adventures. If you ever get the chance to hang out with some Lahu people or better yet go and spend time in their village, DO IT! :)
After coming back to Legacy, I was off to Vietnam. I'll try and get a post about my time there sometime this week.
Love and Hugs,
Lainy J.
