A ka la Tseu - Akha Festival at Childlife

Over the weekend Childlife held its 2nd Akha Swing Festival which was enjoyed by our children, their families, staff and volunteers, as well as local villagers from Sean Gai, children from the DEPDC, students from Mae Far Luang University, children from the local Sankhong School and Mirror Art Foundation.

The Akha Swing Festival is the best known of all Akha celebrations and one of the most important rituals in the Akha calendar. The festival is held once the rice harvest has matured marking the end of the hard weeding work and takes place approximately two months before the harvest season. In essence, this is a sacred thanksgiving ritual and a time of celebration.

Preparation for the festival at Childlife commenced on Friday with the building of the traditional Akha swing, constructed from bamboo poles and rope. Although traditionally there would be no swinging until the following day the temptation was far too great for both our staff and children alike!

The main festivities kicked off on Saturday morning with the traditional sacrifice of a black pig followed by a reading of its liver carried out by the Sean Gai village elder in order to foresee what the coming year has in store. Thankfully Childlife was predicted a prosperous future with many more children joining our ever expanding family.

These rituals were then followed by the Swing Ceremony, where the village elder performed a traditional offering of grass (harvest), stone (strength) and thorn (protection) to ancestors to ensure a good harvest, strength and protection for the community. Our good friend Aju provided everyone with an explanation of the history and traditions involved in the Swing Ceremony. The first to swing is the village elder followed by a female villager. Kru Ngaow was then the next person to swing, proving that quite a bit of skill and technique is needed for the swinging action! We were also lucky enough to experience the traditions of the swing ceremony’s bamboo dance accompanied by the rhythmic beats of the drums.

A feast was had for both lunch and dinner as ample food during the festival ensures a rich harvest and plentiful food throughout the year. Celebrating the Swing Festival is a way of saying thanks and expressing respect for food.

After lunch both the children of Childlife and DEPDC displayed their many singing and dancing talents on stage. There was also a performance from Aya, the winner of the last ‘Akha Idol’ singing competition, which was a highlight for many of the children.

Another highlight of the afternoon was the attempts of the children to reach the 500B which is placed on the top of a 6m tall bamboo pole. Generally climbing things is a speciality of many of the children, however when the bamboo is greased with some cooking oil the task is made that little bit more difficult! That didn’t stop many of them from trying with 4 boys finally succeeding with a team effort.

After the evening meal we heard an encore performance from Aya as well as a beautiful performance from Charlih, one of Childlife’s older boys, who is an incredibly gifted guitarist and singer. The ‘Dek Doh’, older children, closed the festival with a very fun and entertaining play.

The first Akha Festival was held last year to enable the children of Childlife (of which almost 90% are from the Akha minority group) to celebrate a traditional event in their calendar.

The festival gives the children the opportunity to get in touch and learn more about their wonderfully rich culture and traditions as well as to help instill a sense of pride in their history. This is particularly significant as the Akha people verbally pass down their traditions and knowledge through the generations, without the need for written records.

A huge thanks to Global Youth, Dom and Leni for funding this important cultural activity and a great weekend of fun for the children.