According to the Akha
way of life, the day counting is part of the culture which goes
together with their everyday life. They usually rely on the lucky day
for doing the ceremonies. There is the legend about the Akha day
counting saying that “ long time ago, the Akha did not know the
difference between each day because the sunrise brought the brightness
and when the sun set, the darkness covered the whole place. It was
always like that. Therefore, the Akha day counting was introduced by
calling the days the name of the animals. Each animal representing one
day in the week. Then, each animal that was involved with the Akha day
counting became important and got a history. Besides, in the case the
villagers forgot to count the day and they had to ask the information
from other villages, they had to pay almost a rupee and a bottle of
spirits. The Akha called “Nga Sri Por Zoo”. This way of counting the
days made use of 12 animals. Another name for this way of counting the
days is “ 12 Zodiacs” with a representative of each day in the week,
and each week, called “Tee Jor” in Akha language, consists of 12 days.
The animals are:
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“Yor”
means the sheep day and is regarded as the birthday of God (Ar Peaw Mee
Yair) a person who gave birth to the universe. The Akha do pay respect
to this day and everyone will stay home. This day is a holiday for the
Akha and nobody works on this day. This day is the official holiday or
the general holiday. Activities and work which are not involved with
agriculture can be performed on the holidays. |
“Home
Yah” means monkey day ( year of the monkey), it is the death day of the
first person who prays in the ceremonies (Pee Ma). This is the reason
why it is important and has been assigned it’s own day. |
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“Yah”
means chicken (year of chicken). The Akha believe that chickens know
the opening and the closing time of the sun. They know the day and the
night, therefore the chicken is perceived to be important and this way
the chicken was assigned to a weekday . |
“Kheu”
means dog (year of dog), dog is a loyal animal and they take care of
things and all properties for human. Therefore, the dog is assigned to
a day. |
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“Yah”
means pig (year of pig), the Akha feed and raise them up for eating and
using in the religious ceremony. The Akha believe that it is an
important animal, and this way the pig came to be assigned a day in the
week |
“Ho”
means rat (year of rat), rats are living in the fertile land. The full
name is Kong Ho, they are in the same family as other rats. |
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“Yow”
means buffolo is an animal that help humans in working and in
transportation, so it given big importance and the buffalo has been
assigned a day in the week. |
“Kha
La” means tiger (year of tiger), it is a fierce animal and it has a
great power over other animals. This is the reason why it takes a role
of the leader. Besides, this day is known as “ the holiday” of the Akha
which is the less important than “Yor”; a sheep day. Nowadays, it is
still a holiday. The Akha are still doing work on this day, but only
work that has nothing to do with agriculture. The Akha will still work
for money in other places. |
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“Tong
La” means donkey; donkey is a strong and patient animal. They carry
things for human. Then, it has been assigned a weekday. |
“Long”
means rabbit (year of rabbit) is the birthday of god, the land builder
named “Ja Bee Jan Long”. No one is allowed to bury the wood into the
ground on this day. If anybody forbid the rule; they may be cursed to
be deaf and they have to do the apologetic ceremony. Then, the curse
will be erased. The Lomi Akha also regard this day as a holiday. |
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“Zair”
is an animal which is similar to a fox. They live in cold areas. It is
impossible to say whether there was really one that existed. However,
there is a legend of this animal, once upon the tome, there was a heavy
storm and caused a great damage to human’s residences. Then, this kind
of animal was lying down in front of the hole and block the heavy
storm. Thus, there was no more damage. The Akha believe that this
animal is very powerful and is able to protect the humans from damage.
The Akha perceive this animal as important and it has been assigned a
weekday. |
“Hmong”
means horse (year of horse); it is a kind of animal for carrrying
things and it is used as a vehicle for travelling. It is a useful
animal for humans and therefore it has been assigned a day in the week. |
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Notice:
Akha believe that one should not bury wooden poles in the ground except
for three days in the week: “Yor” sheep day, “Long” rabbit day and “Kha
La” tiger day. These days are opposite in the animal zodiac when
counting the days and the years. For example, in the year of the
chicken the three days are opposite each other on the same day of
chicken day counting; Akha called this day “Koh Ger Nong Ger” and in
one whole zodiac round, or “Tee Jor” as the Akha call it, there are two
holidays: “Yor” day or sheep day and “Kha La” day or tiger day. They
will not do anything in these two days because they are the holidays. |
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