New Year Hmong Style

On our road trip up North Thailand, we accidentally bumped into a local festival…

One of the things mentioned on visitors' bucket lists to see in Thailand are the hill tribes.

This is not surprising as photos and video clips of their colorful dresses and cultural activities are widely available on YouTube and other places.

Only problem is that tourists expect to see those during their holidays which of course doesn’t always work out as planned…

Lots of people are under the impression that hill tribes always wear their traditional outfits whereas in fact these are only used for special ceremonies and occasions OR tourist performances…

During one (or multiple) day trekkings up in Chiang Mai you are bound to pass hill tribe villages or even spend an overnight there.

I remember some hikers expressing surprise that there were hardly any villagers around and the guide patiently explaining “Yes, that’s because they’re out working in the fields and the children are at school.”

After dinner there’s a show of a few villagers (incl. children) dressed up in their classic gear doing some ceremonial dances which are usually well received by tourists.

Some of the more responsible operators aim to inform visitors about the hill tribes’ lifestyle, history, and culture in order to make the visits more meaningful for both visitors and locals. (*)

But to visit a hill tribe event without any tourists (foreign as well as Thai) is highly unlikely nowadays and therefore we couldn’t believe our luck to witness the New Year celebrations of the Hmong people that day.

The atmosphere was very relaxed.

Everyone was having a great time eating, drinking, playing games (spinning tops! **), and taking photos of each other!

Ready ladies?

Picnic atmosphere.

Hey kid, you look great!

The variety in outfits was astonishing.

The man on the right asked me to follow him...

And as a result, one tourist was invited to participate in this ball game...

We wandered happily around until it was time to move on as we wanted to stop at some more places and arrive before sunset at Mae Hong Son…

(*) https://www.green-trails.com/information-on-ethnic-minorities-in-north-thailand/

Green Trails has an interesting variety of tours, including trekkings, recommended!

(**) As kids in the Netherlands during the early 1960s, we used to play with spinning tops, although nowhere as spectacular as the Hmong version!

Halfway through my primary school time this game suddenly disappeared, nobody was playing it anymore…

As for the reasons why, no idea!

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_customs_and_culture