Hill Tribe Focus

Lisu

They originated from Tibet migrated through Burma and crossed over into Northern Thailand during World War II . Animalistic rather than Buddhist they make sacrifices of cockerels as part of their religious practise.

Witch doctors heel their sick and believe that the body has 12 souls. When a part of the body is injured that sole has left the body. To encourage it to return they sacrifice a cockerel cut off the head, throwing it into the air to open the spirit world allowing for the soul to return. The which doctor will construct a spirit compass from bamboo paper and string and split linked with split bamboo which forms the spirit bridge.

Access to the sacrifice alters which are on the highest point adjacent to the village are only accessible to male members of the community.

Fortune telling is not done by reading palms or cards rather with the sacrifice of a cockerel, which is then cocked and eaten except for the legs, Wooden picks are put into the flesh of the legs as they pray to their god asking the questions for which they want answers. For example if they want to know whether a couple should marry or not when the leg bones are brought together and they are parallel the sign is they will be together for a long time. However if they are pointing in opposite directions the indications are that they would soon part and should not marry.

The method for a funeral will depend on the nature of the death. If it is what they call a good death by natural causes then the body should be buried. The Lisu do not have cemeteries rather they return their dead -to the land burying them in a good site in the family field, Originally this was decided by throwing an egg into the air if it cracked on landing it was not where the body. should be buried however if it remained unbroken it was body should rest.

A bad death was one by accident or decease and housed a bad spirit. In such surcumstances the body cannot be returned to the land as the spirit would be passed onto future generations and should be cremated.

A Lisu house has a slopping roof that nearly reaches the floor it is divided into two rooms one for sleeping and one for cooking. Their belief doesn't require every house and plot of land to have a spirit house as elsewhere in the rest of Buddhist Thailand.