نساء زرافات 'Giraffe Woman'

لو كنت تظن أن رقاب هؤلاء النسوة طويلة، فأنت مخطيء

Kayan people (Myanmar)

The Kayan are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar (Burma).

التقطت هذه الصورة سنة 1935، أثناء زيارة ثلاث نساء من شعب البادونغ إلى لندن، كانت زيارة حافلة شهدت اهتماما كبيرا، وأحاط الجمهور "بالنساء الزرافات" الثلاثة أينما حللن.

Padaung (Yan Pa Doung) is a Shan term for the Kayan Lahwi (the group in which women wear the brass neck coils). The Kayan residents in Mae Hong Son Province in Northern Thailand refer to themselves as Kayan and object to being called Padaung. In The Hardy Padaungs (1967) Khin Maung Nyunt, one of the first authors to use the term "Kayan", says that the Padaung prefer to be called Kayan. On the other hand, Pascal Khoo Thwe calls his people Padaung in his 2002 memoir, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey.

شعب البادونغ هو مجموعة عرقية تعيش بين تايلاند وميانمار، وتتميز نساؤه، أو كن يتميزن بوضع حلقات من النحاس (تسمى خواتم الرقبة) حول أعناقهن. ولا يخلعنها مرة أخرى.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Myanmar, many Kayan tribes fled to the Thai border area. Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck section, which became a tourist site, self-sufficient on tourist revenue and not needing financial assistance.

حين تصل الفتاة الصغيرة من شعب البادونغ إلى سن خمس سنوات، وفي توقيت تحدده العرافة ليكون مباركا، يتم وضع أولى الحلقات النحاسية (وقد تكون من الذهب) حول رقبتها، كان يتم وضع الحلقات الأولى بارتفاع حوالي 10 سنتيمترات، وبعد عامين، يتم وضع حلقة أخرى، ثم حلقات أخرى حتى تصل الفتاة إلى سن 21 عاما، سن الزواج.

According to U Aung Roe (1993:21ss) Kayan number about 40,000 in Shan State (around the Pekon Township area) and 20,000 in Kayah State (around Demawso and Loikaw). A 2004 estimate puts the population at approximately 130,000.[5] About 600 Kayan reside in the three villages open to tourists in Mae Hong Sorn, or in the Ban Mai Nai Soy refugee camp.

حين يتم الانتهاء من وضع جميع الحلقات، قد يصل ارتفاعها إلى 30 سنتيمترا، ووزنها إلى 9 كيلوجرامات، هذا الارتفاع والوزن، يعطي الإيحاء بأن الرقبة صارت طويلة للغاية، لكن الواقع إن هذا مجرد وهم، أما الحقيقة فهي أن الحلقات النحاسية تدفع الترقوة وعظام الكتفين والقفص الصدري إلى أسفل، يوما بعد يوم وعاما بعد عام، هذا التشوه الذي يصيب الصدر والكتفين، هو ما يعطي الانطباع بأن الرقبة صارت طويلة جدا.

Present settlement of the Kayans

Woman and child, 1905.

According to Kayan tradition the Kayan settled in the Demawso area of Karenni State (Kayah State) in 739 AD. Today, they are to be found in Karenni (Kayah) State around Demawso and Loikow, in the southern region of Shan State and in Mandalay’s Pyinmana and Karen’s Than Daung township.

There are three Kayan villages in Mae Hong Son province in Thailand. The largest is Huay Pu Keng, on the Pai river, close to the Thai Myanmar border. Huai Seau Tao is a commercial village opened in 1995. Many of the residents of Ban Nai Soi Kayan Longneck village moved into the Karenni refugee camp in September 2008, but 20 families and 104 residents remain there, according to the sign at the entrance as of February 2001.

A Kayan Lahwi girl

اختلفت الدوافع والتفسيرات وراء عادة "النسوة الزرافات"، فقد قيل أن السبب هو إبعاد الأعداء عن نساء البادونغ بعد منحهن هذا المظهر غير الجذاب، وقيل على العكس تماما إنها محاولة لجعل النساء أكثر جاذبية في ثقافة البودنغ، وقيل إنها عادة نشأت للتشبه بالتنين، الكائن المهم في ثقافتهم، وقيل إنها للحماية من عضات الحيوانات المفترسة، أما النسوة الزرافات أنفسهن، فكن يجبن على السؤال بالقول إنها عادة ترتبط بهويتهن وجمالهن.

Women of the Kayan tribes identify themselves by their forms of dress. Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, appearing to lengthen it. The women wearing these coils are known as "giraffe women" to tourists.

Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old. Over the years, the coil is replaced by a longer one and more turns are added. The weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes. It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an important figure in Kayan folklore.The coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites, perhaps literally, but probably symbolically.

Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, and often say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity (one associated with beauty).

A Kayan Lahwi woman

اندثرت عادة النسوة الزرافة بالتدريج، لكنها لا زالت موجودة لدى كبار السن، ولدى الفتيات في القرى التايلاندية الفقيرة، اللواتي يرتدينها لأنها تجذب السياح مما يزيد موارد القبيلة.

The coil, once on, is seldom removed, as the coiling and uncoiling is a lengthy procedure. It is usually only removed to be replaced by a new or longer coil. The muscles covered by the coil become weakened. Many women have removed the rings for medical examinations. Most women prefer to wear the rings once their clavicle has been lowered, as the area of the neck and collarbone often becomes bruised and discolored. Additionally, the collar feels like an integral part of the body after ten or more years of continuous wear.

In 2006, some of the younger women in Mae Hong Son started to remove their rings, either to give them the opportunity to continue their education or in protest against the exploitation of their culture and the restrictions that came with it. In late 2008, most of the young women who entered the refugee camp removed their rings. One woman who had worn the rings for over 40 years removed them. After removing the rings, women report discomfort which fades after about three days. The discoloration is more persistent.

The government of Myanmar began discouraging neck rings as it struggled to appear more modern to the developed world. Consequently, many women in Myanmar began breaking the tradition, though a few older women and some of the younger girls in remote villages continued to wear rings. In Thailand, the practice has gained popularity in recent years, because it draws tourists who bring revenue to the tribe and to the local businessmen who run the villages and collect an entry fee of 500 to 600 baht per person. The Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), an armed cease-fire group, have made attempts to invite the Kayan to return to Kayah State to set up their own tourist villages.