Pampet village Kayah State

In each of the open sided houses we visit Padaung women welcome us. Many are back-strap weaving. They tether one end of the ‘loom’ to a horizontal bar that is part of the house. The other end is tethered to a back-strap that is fastened around their hips. Various coloured thread is wounds around long slivers of bamboo. When the pattern demands a change of colour they pick up another bamboo sliver.

One woman is weaving the white tunic that all Padaung women wear over short black skirts. In each of their houses were the fruits of their labour in terms of multi-coloured scarves and little shoulder bags. We bought Win Kyaing a tiny bag, which he hangs around his neck as a perfect size for carrying his mobile! Also for sale are rings, bracelets and bangles in the same material as the neck rings.

The chief tells us much about the neck rings. Girls of about five years start wearing a few at a time. Gradually they build up over the years. The woman with whom we are sitting wears 17 rings joined together. She also wears six more that are joined to each other but not to the others. In all, she wears 23 and they weigh enormously heavy at 12 kilogrammes. How they can work in the fields and carry produce on their backs to the market demonstrates how incredibly strong they are. While we are there a tuk-tuk tractor arrives and the woman lifts a huge sack of produce into the back despite the rings around her neck.

Happy voices herald the primary school. Inside, there are 65 children and two teachers. There is much bustle, action and noise as well as lessons. We give the two-dozen exercise books and pens to the teachers, but are pleased to see that the children are working with writing books, so ours will come in handy later.

Three little girls, one the daughter of the chief, come to show us their neck rings. Each one has about five. The teacher tells us an amusing something. One little girl has a set of rings that can be opened all down one side so, as the teacher says, she wears them if she wants to and not if she doesn’t!  Another child finds a decorative way of carrying his pen. It is on top of his head and clipped to stay put.

They invite us into a large wooden house. In the middle of the wood floor there is an enthusiastic fire burning tended by a man. The room is full of smoke as there is no chimney. The smoke that does get out does so through cracks in the wooden walls and gaps under the eaves. When my eyes accustom to the dark room I see more than a hundred corncobs (of the sweet corn variety) Presumably the smoke adds flavour. The man shows me the pumpkin pieces he is boiling in the pot and while tending the fire he snacks on pieces of cucumber marinating in a doubtless delicious sauce.

Eventually the obvious questions come up of when and why the women wear neck rings. There are three versions. The first is that long, long ago, if a tiger leaps at their throat it will not kill them. The second needs more research on my part, as I can only understand the word ‘dragon’.  The fthird is more prosaic. Long ago, when the different races moved down from the north through Burma, they had to wear all their valuables so they would not be stolen.

I must now find out more about the dragons.