Mlabri People

Mlabri is the smallest ethnic group in Thailand. There are only 150-200 of them.

‘Mlabri’ are sometimes called ‘Yellow Leaf People’. They were discovered in 1936 by an Australian researcher named Dr. H. Bernatzik discovered them in Nan Province. Then, in 1962, Mr.Kraisri Nimmanmintr and his expedition found an ethnic group, which is believed to be Mlabri.

Living

Mlabri people were from Xyaburi, Laos. They inhabited in different part of northern Thailand, including Phrae(Muang District, Rong Kwang District, Song District) and Nan Province(Sa District).

They love to live in humid areas and 3,000 feet above the sea level. To catch fishes and other aquatic animals easily, they live near water resources. For their houses, they look like shacks with roofs sloping backwards and without supporting poles. For your information, they don’t live in same houses for their whole lives. Instead, they relocated every 5-10 days or as soon as the leaves used to make roofs fade to yellow colour.

The reason that force them to relocate over and over again is how their ancestors said about evil spirits. They just believe that it they don’t relocate, they would be haunted by evil spirits.

Farming and raising animals are how they make their livings. Usually, they grow corns and rice. They raise animals for food. Sometimes they are hammock weaving employees.

Wedding and Family

Couples are allowed to move out on their own after their weddings. However, they can still visit their parents and take good care of them.

When couples want to get married, engagement is not necessary at all. In fact, they don’t even hold wedding ceremonies. They just gather their parents for agreement. If all parents are happy with their relationships, then they rightfully become wives and husbands. Nothing is difficult about marriage. The only prohibition is that they’re not allowed to get married to relatives and people from other Peoples.

All family members always help each other for their livings. Regularly, women take care of children, build houses and find some plants to eat. Men go for animal hunting. They treat each other with respect. Neither men nor women are provided with privileges.

Education

In the past, Mlabri only lived in forests, so they didn’t have any chance for study. Nowadays, thanks to ‘Huai Hom Pattana School’, which is located in a Hmong community and 1 kilometre away from Mlabri community, children can study for their future. If their grades are good enough and they want higher degrees, they can just get into town to study at other institutes after graduating from the school.

Language

Based on Khmu language and Mal language, their language are categorized as a type of Austroasiatic language. Their language is only for speaking. There are no alphabets of their own. Therefore, they need to use alphabets of other languages to write.

Dressing

Their clothes aren’t gorgeous like other Peoples. Men usually wear loinclothes, only when they go for hunting. For women, they wear casual clothes like us.

Entertainment

Beside tying climbers to trees, making swing for kids, they also follow toy ideas of other ethnic groups, such as bamboo gun or Gong-Gang Slingshot.

In the past, Mlabri people used to have their own music instruments. These instruments include bamboo drums and leaf flutes. It’s a pity that they don’t play these anymore. Nowadays, they just play music instruments from other ethnic groups, for examples, the guitar and the reed mouth organ.

Superstition and Funeral

Let’s start with funeral. When a person is dead, the body will be put on a pallet and kept on a high tree. By doing so, wild animals are not able to attack the body. Then they will move to some places else as soon as a funeral is over.
Next, their superstition. Mlabri people just believe in super natural things like other Peoples. They think ghosts and spirits exist and can worship these whenever they think it’s necessary. For an example, when somebody is ill, they will pray and apologise to spirits that were disrespected. They have a lot of chanting words for their supernatural rituals. These words were from the language of Mla people.

Even it’s just a full-moon night, they will worship holy spirits. So, let’s say that their lives and supernatural things are meant to be together.