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Women's Garments ဟ္ုမူးဆ္ုကံင္ဆ္ုသိုဝ္

Women's Garments{(1) A "hko peu" or head-dress of a Sgaw Karen. (2) A
smock ("hse") and a skirt ("ni"), Sgaw Karen, from the Pegu Hills, Toungoo
District, The smock is embroidered with colored yarns and "Job's Tears." The
middle of the skirt shows the python pattern. (3) A Sgaw Karen smock and skirt
from Shwegyin District. This smock is trimmed with red braid, except the lower
part which is fancily woven ("u").}
The women of all these tribes wear the simplest kind of a skirt; it is a
straight slip which, instead of being gathered about the waist, is drawn tight
across the back, folded across the front, and the fulness tucked in at the waist
line, thus allowing the action of the knees. The garment remains in place
remarkably well, although no belt is used. When the women bathe--those on the
plains doing so with much more regularity than their sisters in the hills--they
bring the top of the skirt up under the armpits and fasten it over the breasts
in the same manner as about the waist.
The jackets or smocks of the women present a variety of designs. The most
common is the plain black or dark blue "hse" with little or no ornament on it.
Sometimes it is decorated with small rosettes or stars of colored yarns or,
among the Pwo, with fern-like figures. The prettiest decorations are made with
the hard white seeds of various shapes of the plant called Job's Tears
(Coix). The variety mostly used are those resembling barberries, called
"bwe" in Sgaw Karen and found all over the hills. These are sewed on the
finished garment in parallel rows, in rows forming V-shaped figures, or in the
forms of stars or rosettes and edging the arm, and neck holes. Red yarns or
pieces of red cloth are also sewed on to add to the ornamentation. In Shwegyin
we often see a "hse" that is woven with elaborate designs of red and green on a
black ground, red tape being sewed in vertical lines on the body of the garment
and in horizontal lines over the shoulders. The head-dress of the women is
called "hko peu ki" and among the Sgaw women consists of a piece of cloth about
two yards long and a foot wide. The middle part is plain white. At either end
there is a fancy woven ("u") portion about twenty inches long, red in color and
cross at intervals of two inches by transverse lines. In the middle of these
colored ends is a white zigzag line representing a serpent. The other lines are
in pairs, those equidistant from the zigzag above and below being alike and
having their special designations. These names are, however, in archaic form,
and their meaning is not well known. There are long white fringes on the ends of
the head-dress and shorter colored ones at the ends of the cross lines. When
worn, it is twisted about the head in such a way as to form a peak over the
forehead with the colored fringes hanging down about the eyes and the long white
fringes down the back. In a few villages in the Pegu Hills the women wear
circlets ("hko hhlaw") of bamboo or silver, around which they coil their hair.
The metal circlets are made of beaten silver a scant inch in width and long
enough to go once and a half around the head, being held by a fancy clasp at the
back, which keeps the band in place. Such silver circlets are valued at about
ten rupees or more, according to the work on them.
The Karen make blankets of the same cloth that they use for their garments.
They use two strips of white edged with red selvedges, each piece being four
yards long. These are sewed together lengthwise, and then one outer edge is
sewed up to provide a half-open sleeping-bag. The fringes of the open end are
drawn up over the head.

Women's Head-dress
On the whole, the Karen are very careful about exposing their persons. The
women have always worn the closed skirts and not the open "tamein," which was
formerly in vogue among the Burmese. They seldom go without their jackets,
though in the hills older women now and then leave them off. Little children run
about more or less naked. Boys often find their garments a bother and thrust
them aside, but men usually are very careful about keeping their loins covered.
When working, the men, who wear the "hse" or smock, pull the right arm inside
the armhole and extend it again through the wide neckhole, so that the right arm
and shoulder are entirely free for chopping or doing any other work at hand.
They sometimes lower the whole garment to the waistline, where they knot it up
in Burman fashion and thus leave the upper part of the body free. The Brecs are
the poorest tribe of Karen and wear the scantiest clothing consisting of short
trousers. Often these are much the worse for wear. These people have rough small
blankets, which they throw around themselves in cold weather. But more often
they appear without them. The Karen on the palins bathe daily, doing so in their
skirts ("longyi"), as do the Burmese. After the bath they slip the fresh garment
over the wet one, which they allow to fall off as they fasten the other in
place.

The Karen People of Burma:

PREFACE
To many a visitor to Burma, who views the country from the deck of an
Irrawaddy River streamer or from the window of a railway carriage, there
appears to be little difference between the Karen and the Burman. This is
not strange, for many individuals of the non-Burman tribes wear the
Burmese costume and speak the Burmese language; and they present no
markedly different characteristics in feature or color of skin. I have
often heard the remark that "there is no difference between the Burman
and the Karen." It is doubtless because the Government of Burma
recognizes that there is a difference in the tribal characteristics,
customs, and religion that it has adopted the wise policy of publishing a
series of complete studies, of which this purports to be one, of these
various peoples. If the reader will have the patience to read these
pages, it is hoped that he will realize that, though the Karen have lived
for generations in the closest proximity to the Burmese, they preserve
their own racial traits, which are quite distinct from those of their
more volatile neighbors with whom they have had little in common.
This work deals more particularly with the Sgaw branch of the Karen
people. My own experience has been more intimate with this tribe, though
I have known many of the other groups. This circumstance, together with
the fact that the Bwe and Taungthu peoples have already been described in
the Upper Burma Gazetteer, as well as the limitations of space,
has led me to limit my discussion to brief references to the other
tribes. But I am convinced that in the main the Sgaw exhibit the general
characteristics that are truly Karen in the broadest sense of the term. I
have also omitted any detailed study of the large mass of Karen folklore,
which may possibly be incorporated in some future study.
The reader may notice that I have used the term "Karen," instead of
the more usual plural form "Karens," when referring to the tribal name.
This is more accurate, for to add the "s" is as misleading in this case
as in that of the Lao, who are often mistakenly spoken of as the "Laos."
In the transliteration of Karen words I have followed the continental
system of spelling, adopting "x" for the guttural which is pronounced
like the "ch" in the Scotch "loch," and the dipthong "eu" for the sound
which closely resembles the common pronunciation of "er" as in "her." I
have accepted the simplified spelling for the tribal names, Pwo and Bwe,
in place of the more cumbersome "Pgho" and "Bghai."
It is not without some misgivings that I allow these sheets to go to
the publisher. The notes were collected at such intervals as could be
taken from my labors as a district missionary, and that at a time when
increasing administrative duties precluded my giving such attention to
them as I could wish. The return to America on furlough necessitated the
completion of the work on the opposite side of the world from the sources
of my material, and where, though I enjoyed the privileges of a Graduate
Fellowship at the Ohio State University. I had to depend largely on my
personal collections, there being no department of Ethnology there.
I wish to acknowledge the assistance which I have had from my wife,
whose sympathetic interest and accurate knowledge have been of untold
value, and also the help I have received from my missionary colleagues,
among whom I should mention my father-in-law, Rev. D. A. W. Smith, D.D.;
Rev. C. A. Nichols, D.D., who was first to ask me to undertake the
preparation of this work, and Rev. E. N. Harris. Among the many Karen
members of the mission staff who have helped in the gathering of
materials, I can only mention Thras San Gyi San Kwe, Po Myaing, and Shwe
Thee, of Tharrawaddy; Thra Pan Ya Se, of Shwegyin; and Thra Aung Gaing,
of Insein, who gave me a full account of the Karen of Siam. The sketches
signed "D. P." are the work of a Karen schoolboy from Tavoy, Saw Day Po,
who, to his credit it should be said, drew them without having had any
instruction in drawing whatever. My thanks are also due to Drs. B. Laufer
and Fay Cooper-Cole, of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, for
many valuable suggestions, and to Professors J. A. Leighton and W. H.
Siebert, of the Ohio State University, for many kindnesses. To Professor
Siebert I am especially indebted for a most painstaking review of my
entire manuscript, for its acceptance for publication, and for seeing it
through the press of the Ohio State University. Finally, I desire to
express my gratitude to the Government of Burma for the privilege of
undertaking this work. The necessity for careful observation and thorough
investigation has not been without its benefits to me. The undertaking
has been exacting and quite instructive, even if it had benefited no one
but myself.
This book is, after all, but another by-product of the great
missionary enterprise, which seeks to lift the less fortunate peoples of
the world to a higher plane of life and enjoyment, and to bring to them
the best of our Christian civilization. If this work should help to make
the Karen better known and understood and in any way assist them along
their upward path, the writer will feel that it has all been a part of
the great task to which he has dedicated his life. May the blessing of
God rest upon it.
COLUMBUS, OHIO
AUGUST 30, 1920

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