Khong-Yaew-Ar-Paew tradition

      “Khong-Yaew-Ar-Peaw” ceremony begins every October of each year and during which is plants of the farms are ready for harvest such as watermelons, cucumber and other vegetables. This “Khong-Yaew-Ar-Peaw” ceremony is a traditional Akha ceremony where the villagers believes will drive away the bad luck which was brought by a bad spirit which came to stay in the village. The Akha people call this devil “Hnae” and the weapon to suppress and fight with the devil is called a “Tead-Ma”, which is carved out from softwood, forming shapes of swords, spikes or guns. The Akha people belives that the weapon can be used to drive away the bad luck in the village. Villagers will shout and children will paint their face to look scary and frightening to scare away “Hnae”, the devil. The children will start to shout This is a symbol to drive out the bad luck from the village and the people in the village will shout “Cho-Cho-Li-Lo, Cho-Cho-Li-Lo” to each household to drive the bad luck away.        

There will be little treats like cucumber and fruits for these children who drive away the bad luck for the families. After ‘getting rid’ of the devil, the children will gather at the back gate and fire firecrackers and shoot their guns. Another reason for this traditional ceremony is because to symbolize the beginning of the new winter season. Other activities like hunting and wedding celebration may also occur during this season.

The ceremony procedures is as follows:       1st Day: The Akha woman will collect the holy water from the holy pond so as to use it during the traditional ritual. The water from the holy well which the Akha people call “E-Ju-E-Sor” means pure water. During the day, the villagers will pound sticky rice to make Akha delicacies which are also used during the rituals. The ceremony will be held near the women’s shrine.

2nd Day:       This day, children in the village will prepare the weapons to drive the bad fortune out from their houses and the village they stayed in. This procedure will continue till evening time. Next, the religious spirit leader will proceed with a ritual called the “Jow-Yong-Lor”. A pig will be killed as offerings to the spirits and the elderly in the village will give blessings to the younger generation. After which, everyone in the village will go to the religious spirit leader’s home and take weapons to drive away the bad luck out of the village gate. These weapons will then be shot out at the village gate.

      They will put a sword-like weapon in front of the village gate. This weapon is believed to use as protecting tool for the villagers against bad luck. In the evening, they will have the ceremony “Ar-Paew-Lor-Gong-U-Er” and this ceremony is to clean and keep away all the weapons they made earlier . The ceremony is followed by a dinner feast for people who attended and everything will end soon after.

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