Lo Chingcha

Swing Festival

          Every year in late August, the Akha people hold an important festival in celebration of Goddess Uem-sa-yae who has bestowed the abundance of crops and the lushness around them. Each Akha village takes turns to hold the 4-days Swing Festival. The first two days is the time to get all the needed things in preparation for the festival. They pound rice grains, enough to last them during the festive period. They sew traditional costumes, secure all other necessary things they will need for themselves, as well as do all personal errands. This is because on the 3rd and 4th days, they can neither do any of these things, nor go outside the village. Spending money to buy things is forbidden, but accepting money is all right.

                   According to Akha belief, the swing ritual is sacred. It is therefore a very important occasion for the people to come together and ask for blessings from sacred beings in the natural world. Merrily the children sit on the swing, and swing back and forth. Or they have fun just running around.  In the evening young people get together at the village communal yard, where they sing and court the opposite sex. Anyone playing on the Swing must take care of the ropes, because if they are broken the person responsible must pay a fine, which is one whole pig. The fine will become a sacrifice, an apology to the Swing spirit and the Rope spirit. They also say that during the ritual period it is obligatory that everyone in the village go up on the swing because it is an act that will safeguard them from evil spirits.

                   The first day of the ceremony is dedicated to ancestor worshipping. The women go to collect clean water from the village’s holy water source. They soak sticky rice in this holy water before pounding it and making it into a sacrificial dish, which they call kao pook. Kao pook is made with sticky rice or mountain-grown rice mixed with black sesame seeds and salt, pounded in a large mortar, and then rolled by hand to form small balls, next to be flattened and wrapped in banana leaves.

                   The Swing is built on the second day. The men go into the woods to fell some young trees that will be used to make the poles of the village swing. Each family builds a small swing for the young ones too, in front of their own house. They finish building the village swing in the evening. At night they celebrate by doing their traditional dance, which is accompanied by the music made by ramming bamboo poles. This fun dance is called tubongchong. The fun continues until dawn. The dancers are then invited by the hosts to come into the houses to a feast of food and drink.

                   The third day is the rite to pay respects to the ancestors. Domestic animals that they raise such as pigs and chickens are killed as sacrifices, also meals for guests and relatives and friends who are paying them a visit. Next is the big fun of playing on the Swing. Again the young people hang around at the communal yard to chat and take turns pulling the Swing. The boys, in order to attract the girls’ attention, need to swing up high while singing some ethnic songs to court the girls they like. The children also have their fun on their own swings in front of the houses. When night falls, they do more traditional dances – all through the night.

                   The fourth day is the closing ceremony. Anyone who has not yet done the swinging will do so, to solicit blessings and fortunes for the whole family. Then  the village’s spiritual leader, to mark the end of the festival, does the rite of tying up the ropes to the poles, which must be finished before sunset. The festival over, the Swing is yet to stand there until it is New Year again. The small swings in front of the houses are demolished. It is forbidden for anyone to ride the village swing again – not until the next new year.

                   There are 3 types of Akha swings: the 4-pole conical swing, the waterwheel swing and the one for little children. The first type is constructed by putting firmly in the ground very tall whole tree trunks, with no branches and leaves (all cut off). The four tree tops are tied together, and from the top strong, sturdy vine ropes are hanging down. The ends of the rope are tied into large loops.

                   The waterwheel type is made by having 2 wooden poles securely stuck in the ground. The tops are chipped to support a shaft from which 4 arms are stretching out. The ends of each 2 arms are connected to and strengthened by a bamboo piece, the swing thus resembling a waterwheel. Ropes are tied to the 4 arms, as the swing is meant for 4 people to sit on.

                   The type for small children is similar to the first type, but smaller and many more in number. The 2 ropes hanging down in the middle have a bamboo seat tied to them, so a child can sit on it and then swing.

สุนีย์ ประสงค์บัณฑิต.(2546). ประเพณีสิบสองเดือน : พิธีกรรมที่เปลี่ยนไป.  กรุงเทพฯ : ศูนย์มานุษยวิทยาสิรินธร. (in Thai)

http://www.iamakha.com/forum/index.php/topic,80.0.html สืบค้นวันที่ 17 มิถุนายน 2558

http://www.hilltribe.org/thai/akha/akha-swing.php   สืบค้นวันที่ 17 มิถุนายน 2558