Mae Por Ki village (Khun Mae Wei) in Tha Song Yang Subdistrict, Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province is a “Pwakayaw” village situated far from Tak city center. They are the protectors of ancestral forests in a total of 8,400 rai, which can be divided according to different beliefs into De Por (navel tree) forest, conservation forest, community forest, graveyard forest, spiritual forest, and rotational farming area.
Mae Por Ki, The Water of Life, The Place of Spirituality
When the forest area where the Sgaw Karen called it their place of spirituality was announced a national park, their ways of life and spiritual security became unsteady.
Story by Duang-nat Wongchamnian & Suwit Audomrakpanpong
Story of Sgaw Karen
Location: Ban Khun Mae Wai - Mae Poki, Tha Song Yang, Tak
“Ta Wee Doh”
“Pa Ta Lue”
“A spiritual forest”
“Pa Ta Lue”
“A spiritual forest”
A lot of people asked me what a spiritual forest is. It is such a difficult task to explain it to someone who is not familiar with our culture. The Pwakayaw call it, in their language, “Ta Wee Doh” or “Pa Ta Lue”, which are translated into the central Thai or official Thai as something like “a sacred area” or “a ritual area”, or what we have come to know as “a spiritual forest”.
“Ker Ja”
“The Owner”
“The Owner”
A spiritual forest is a forest where we perform rituals, including “Ba Ke Ja” or a feast for the owners of the forest, mountain, and water, because we believe that every inch of the area has an invisible owner. Hence, we pay them respect. No matter what we do, we always have to perform a ritual to communicate with the “Ke Ja” or "the owner", so that they are aware of our humbleness of our living in the forest and so that they protect our wellbeing.
This is the definition of a spiritual area, an area for life and spirituality. It is also a wisdom, which the community members pass on to the next generation, regardless of age or gender, through examples. It is held that everyone has their own role to play.
In addition to being an area of faith, a spiritual forest also sustains human and animal lives alike. We forage the forest for food, collect herbs for treatment of illnesses, and use it to feed our livestock, such as cows, buffalos, pigs, chicken, etc.
This is the definition of a spiritual area, an area for life and spirituality. It is also a wisdom, which the community members pass on to the next generation, regardless of age or gender, through examples. It is held that everyone has their own role to play.
Around 2017, it was as if lighting struck right through our heart. We learned that our community’s area where our people were born and died for generations was set to be declared the Mae Ngao National Park by the Thai State. Other 48 communities in two provinces, namely Mae Hong Son and Tak, were suffering the same fate. In Mae Por Ki village itself, over 2,000 rai of land, including rotational crops, utilization forest, and spiritual forest, were declared National Park. To make the matter worse, the forest reclamation policy was announced and an attempt to reduce the rotational farming cycle was carried out. The state authorities blamed the villagers’ farming technique for destroying the forest.
“If the villagers had really destroyed the forest, the forest would not be so lush now. It is like this because community members help conserve the forest through their way of life and traditions, which allow human and forest to co-exist peacefully and sustainably.” (The voice from the heart of Di-Sae, a young blood of Mae Por Ki)
Furthermore, the Thai authorities obstruct villagers from taking care of the forest the way they have been doing through the National Park Act B.E. 2562 (2019), whose relevant processes did not involve the locals’ participation. As a result, villagers ask, if they cannot perform rituals in the spiritual area and "if the rice is not good, the harvest is bad, their livelihood suffers, or someone even dies", how they can continue living. Their lives depend heavily on the forest.
Who will take the responsibility? The villagers, the Thai state, or who else?
This story is the product from the series of workshop on “Creative and Strategic Communication for Sustainability” organized by UNDP and Realframe with the support from the EU
Written by
Duang-nat Wongchamnian
A Karen. Live a simple and happy life. Making videos about the highlanders to create wider public awareness and understanding of our way of life. Currently, a Youtuber of ‘จอพาดู’ (Joe Padoo) Channel
Photographed and Graphic Designed by
Suwit Audomrakpanpong
A Sgaw Karen. Life is surrounded by nature and orbits around rotational farming. Wherever is my heart, I take photographs.
Becoming Home