Long necks in women in africa. Women with rings on their necks

The Karena ethnic group lives in the south and southeast of Burma (Myanmar). Due to military conflicts with the government, some of the tribes migrated to Northern Thailand.
Among them there is one Padaung tribe, well known in the world thanks to the national custom of "stretching" the neck of women with the help of metal rings. They are also often called "female giraffes" or "long necks".

Rings begin to be worn from about the age of five. More precisely, these are not even rings, but a copper rod about a centimeter thick, which spirals around the neck. Every year the number of revolutions (rings) increases, which, in fact, leads to lengthening of the neck.
In an adult woman, the number of rings can reach a couple of dozen, and the weight of such an adornment can be 5-6 kilograms.
Women stop growing rings by the age of 25 or by the time of marriage. Also, by this time, the skeleton has stopped growing and the neck simply no longer lengthens.
A little later, rings on the legs and wrists also became popular.

It has now been proven that due to the weight of the rings, the shoulder area is deformed and the collarbones are lowered, which creates the visual effect of lengthening the neck, and no changes occur in the neck itself.)

Sometimes the spirals are made too high and they fit snugly against the chin and shoulders. Then the woman may lose the ability to turn her head. If the rings are removed, there is a risk of breaking the neck. muscles can atrophy. But this is rare. Usually the top of the rings does not reach the chin and there is room for head movement.

Long-necked tribes can be found not only in Asia, but also in Africa. Unlike Asian, African tribes wear exactly rings that stretch the cervical vertebrae. In this case, the removal of the rings really threatens to break the neck.

The longest brass bracelet had 25 turns and weighed about 8 kilograms.
The longest neck recorded in the Guinness Book of Records was 40 cm long.

Why did they wear rings?
Nobody knows the exact answer. There are several versions:
1. According to one legend, tigers once attacked the Padaung tribe. Part of the tribe was killed, tigers gnawed their necks. This worried people, because the race could end. The head of the tribe decided to put on women a kind of protection in the form of metal rings to increase the chances of survival next time and as a talisman against misfortunes. At first, the rings were gold, but later they were replaced with cheaper and lighter metals.
2. According to another legend, it is believed that the ancestors of the Padaungs originated from the union of the dragon and the wind. When the wind learned that his wife was pregnant, he began to circle her with happiness until she gave birth to a cocoon from which the first padaung emerged. In memory of this whirling of the happy wind, women wear spiral rings around their necks.
3. Thus, the Padaungs made women unattractive to enemy tribes, thereby saving them from slavery.
4. There is a version that precious metals were stored in this way.
5. Of course, for beauty.) It was believed that a long neck is attractive and a woman has more chances to get married.

Currently, the inhabitants of the tribe continue to wear rings in tribute to their ancestors, and also because it attracts tourists and allows them to earn money.
The main occupation of long-necked women is weaving. They make wonderful scarves and more. The rest of the Padaung tribe grows rice, tea, etc.

We also met with representatives of the Akha tribe. The woman is wearing a traditional outfit, they wear it every day.
And the girls from the Lahu tribe, who have characteristic ear tunnels.)
Well, a smoking grandmother.) Unfortunately, I cannot identify her ethnicity, most likely Karen.

In 2006, a movement emerged among young people that rejected tradition. The girls began to remove the rings from their necks. Even one 40-year-old padaung took off her rings. For several days she experienced discomfort, then her condition returned to normal. After a couple of years, the shape of the neck returns to its normal appearance.

It is a pity that young people stop appreciating their traditions. The new generation is abandoning national dress and customs. Many dress "modern", typical clothes that do not distinguish them from the crowd.
Some 10 more years and all the colorful tribes will remain only in pictures ..

I also feel sorry for the unfortunate Padaung tribes who made it a tourist curiosity. Some were forcibly relocated to Pattaya to earn money from them.
Tourists are brought in as if they were to a circus, and the padaungs sit and meekly pose for them.
Unfortunately, we were also in a tourist village, because it's not easy to get to the real tribes, you need to go to the jungle.)

After that, different thoughts were spinning in my head and a desire was born to drive through Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and again Thailand in search of real tribes with real grandmothers who smoke opium and are engaged in their traditional crafts.

Photographer: Alexandra Navetnaya
http://navetnaya.com/
Thailand, Chiang Rai

The exotic Padaung tribe lives in the highlands on the Burman-Thai border. Once they all lived in sunny Burma, but in the middle of the 20th century, a military junta came to power, it gave the country a new name - Myanmar and dispersed the disobedient tribes. Among them were padaungs. Therefore, they live high in the mountains, away from prying eyes.

The main source of food is rice, so day and night the Padaungs cultivate their fields so as not to go hungry. Many males are elephants' drovers and keepers, who are used as draft power. The fact is that padaung houses are placed on high, powerful wooden piles. It is a protection against floods, snakes and poisonous insects. Elephants help carry heavy logs.

Death collar

However, it was not these features that made the Padaungs the most famous people on the planet. Their women are the exotic things for which many travelers and tourists come to visit the Padaungs. The nickname "giraffe women" is firmly entrenched behind them - because of their overly elongated necks.

This seemingly barbaric tradition has a romantic background. According to local beliefs, the Padaungs are the children of the wind and the dragon. When the dragon conceived a child from the wind, he carefully hugged his beloved by the neck until the birth. Finally, the female dragon brought the egg, from which the first padaung was born. So, in memory of the ancient father-wind that wrapped around the dragon's neck, the girls of the Padaung tribe from childhood cling to copper spiral rings around their necks. The first ring is supposed to be worn at the age of five. The wire is one centimeter thick. Gradually, with age, the number of rings increases - they continue to be added until marriage. A married woman does not add coils, however, she in no way has the right to remove or replace old rings with new ones.

By the way, it will not occur to her to take off the rings, because this will entail inevitable death. The female giraffe stretches the cervical vertebrae so much that without the rings the neck no longer holds. Unfortunately, not all rings can withstand to a ripe old age and they are often erased, after all, copper is not the strongest metal, a deadly collar crumbles and breaks. And then the woman dies - first of all from suffocation, she cannot all the time support her long neck with her hands. Evil tongues say that in this way Padaung men get rid of their old wives and have young ones. There is another cruel tradition - if the husband considers his wife unfaithful, he can pull off the rings from her himself and the woman will die in agony, as punishment for treason.

Sad female giraffe record

The longer the neck turns out, the higher the status, which means that the family had enough money to buy many expensive copper rings for the girl. The girls with the longest necks are prestigious brides from wealthy families. The rings are used to judge the consistency. The 21st century did not force the Padaungs to change the traditions of their ancestors, they still raise their daughters in copper collars. And another record is recorded in the Guinness Book - a female giraffe with a 40-centimeter neck. Sad fact ...

Doctors studied the phenomenon of female giraffes, it turned out that the neck lengthens not only due to stretching of the vertebrae, but also due to the omission of the shoulder girdle. This is proven by X-ray examination. Not surprising! By the time of marriage, a woman wears five kilograms of copper on herself, the metal presses mercilessly on the shoulders and collarbones, as a result, the torso of female giraffes is shortened, which also does not have the best effect on their health. The copper coil also extremely restricts head movement. Although women-giraffes probably do not feel these inconveniences, because they are not given anything else.

The military junta of Myanmar opposed such a barbaric custom, and this prompted the Padaungs to go further into the mountains and to Thailand, where they are not persecuted.

Tours to padaungs

In Thailand, on the contrary, the tradition is encouraged. Guided tours are organized to the padaungs, where guests can get to know more about the way of life of the people, chat with female giraffes. Neck bracelets have become a national identity and brand of pads. The largest ethnic village is called Nai-Soi; at least a thousand tourists visit it every day. Although the padaungs themselves have little of this, the proceeds go to travel agencies.

But women-giraffes sell national products to travelers, all sorts of trinkets, allow them to take pictures with them for a dollar - and so they live. Padaung men also do not sleep, they seduce guests with elephant rides. Thus, national self-identification has become a profitable business, it is clear that no one is going to give up on this. Only no one ever publishes the mortality statistics for female giraffes ...

Padaung (padong, padown, kayan) are the people of the Karen group living in Myanmar, in the northwest of Kaya state, in the north of Karen state and in the southwest of Shan state, as well as in Thailand. They speak the Kayan (Padaung) language of the Karen branch of the Tibeto-Burmese language family. Population over 50 thousand people.

Padaungs usually live in high mountain villages. Houses, unlike other Burmese tribes, are not built on piles, but on the ground. Grow rice. Men also practice the work of drovers and elephant keepers. Padaung are animists who regularly make sacrifices to spirits, in particular the supreme female spirit of the tribe.

Padaunghi, 1900

In the 1990s, due to a protracted conflict with the military junta of Burma and the policy of forced resettlement of peoples in the state of Kaya, many Padaungs fled to neighboring Thailand, where they live in villages adjacent to the border on a semi-legal basis.

Due to the unusual national custom of “stretching the neck” of women using metal hoops, padaung areas are popular with tourists.

Padaunghi, 1913

Padaung women, starting at about the age of five, wear copper rings around their necks (more precisely, spirals made of a rod about one centimeter thick, giving the impression of rings), which are installed by local women with proper qualifications. Gradually, the number of rings (or rather spiral turns) increases, which leads to the effect of "stretching the neck", which is why tourists call them female giraffes. In an adult woman, the number of rings can reach a couple of dozen, and their weight is four to five kilograms. Periodically, the rings (spirals), at will, or as necessary, are removed and put on again, this does not cause harm to health. In the case of a complete refusal to wear rings, the neck takes on a normal appearance for a period from a year to three. There is a widespread myth that female giraffes cannot live without these rings. This is not the case, women with rings removed do not suffer from their absence.

Women stop growing rings by the time they get married, but also by this time the neck simply no longer lengthens, due to age-related changes in the skeleton, and their replacement, for example, in order to improve their appearance, or if it is inconvenient to wear old ones, is allowed after that, at any age. X-ray studies of Padaung women have shown that, in fact, due to the rings, the neck is not stretched, but the shoulder area is deformed, the shoulder girdle gradually lowers under the weight of the rings, since it is attached to the skeleton with only one joint. As a result, the appearance of a long neck is created, but no changes occur in the neck itself.

National Geographic video, with the procedure for removing and installing spirals:

Sometimes the spirals are deliberately made unnecessarily high - very tight to the shoulders and head, and keep the head constantly in an elevated state. In this case, the woman may lose the ability to turn and tilt her head, simply because it becomes quite difficult to do, and not because of anatomical changes. Also, if such spirals are removed, there is a danger of breaking the neck, because the muscles that support it can atrophy. But this is not often observed, most often the upper edge of the rings does not reach the chin, which gives some freedom of movement of the head.

Women also wear rings on their hands and feet. Their costume usually consists of a long white sweatshirt with a closure in the front and a knee-length skirt.

The reason for the custom of wearing rings is not clear. According to the stories, they supposedly protect against tiger bites. They also say that the rings are designed to limit their ability to escape to a neighboring village, which was associated with the customs of trafficking in women. According to other sources, this is how precious metals were "stored" in the family. The women themselves claim that this is the tradition of the tribe's self-identification, which they received from their mothers. In addition, a long neck is considered a sign of beauty and well-being.

According to local legend, the ancestors of the Padaungs descended from the union of the wind and the dragon. Hearing from the dragon that she was pregnant, the wind began to happily circle around his wife, until she gave birth to a large cocoon, from which a padaung emerged. In memory of this whirling of the happy wind, women wear hoops around their necks.

Although the removal of the hoops is possible, the movement against this custom in Burma has been unsuccessful. Nowadays, women continue to wear rings also because it attracts tourists and creates a good opportunity to sell handicrafts. In fact, long necks have become a kind of tourist attraction business.

The largest village, Nai Soi, receives 1,200 tourists annually, setting an entry fee of 250 Thai baht, the money remains the property of Thai travel agencies.

Similar customs also exist among the Ndebele tribe in South Africa, women wear individual rings from 12 years old until marriage.

Here is what the traveler annataliya, who personally visited the Padaung village, writes:

“This nation lives in the mountains of Kayak State. There are only 400 of them left in Myanmar. And only one family goes down in each tourist season to Inle Lake in order to see people and show themselves. And there is something to show them. If male padaungs look quite normal, then women from childhood have their necks lengthened by putting gold rings on them. To be honest, these are not even rings at all, but spirals with a certain number of revolutions. When the time comes, the old spiral is removed and a new one is put on, with an even greater number of revolutions.

The maximum turnover rings can be 25. In the family where we were, four women lived - 14, 18, 56 and 67 years old. And only the 67-year-old granny had exactly 25 rings, everyone else had less. It is impossible for female giraffes to remove the spirals on their own - the neck will break. They also wash with them. But, in principle, if you need to cut out the tonsils or have problems with the thyroid gland, then in the supine position the spirals are removed and do what is needed. In adulthood, a Padaung woman wears up to seven kilograms of jewelry. The fact is that, in addition to necks, they hang bracelets on their arms and legs. And all this weighs a lot. I was given to hold a neck jewelry, and not with the largest number of rings - it weighed about two kilograms!

However, now not all girls want to lengthen their necks. Many, in general, leave the villages for the city, and in Yangon and in other cities, you know, walking around with rings on their necks is not a fountain!

The Padaungs and Inle performed some of their national dances for me and sang a couple of songs. Their dances, frankly speaking, are "two tributaries, three flops", the songs are more melodic, but also from the series: what I see, I sing about that. For the concert and the treat in the form of tea, with which the padaungs also gave me drink, I decided to thank them. But they categorically refused to take my dollars. “We run a family shop,” they told me. "You can buy something from us!" Such a proud people! "

One has only to wonder how different ideas about beauty can be among different nations. Recently, Motherhood has written about women adorning their chins with beard-like tattoos. Today we will talk about the representatives of the Padaung people from Myanmar, who are distinguished by unnaturally long necks.

Why do padaung women wear rings around their necks?

There are several versions explaining this custom. Some say that the rings are supposedly capable of protecting against tiger bites. Others argue that neck jewelry prevented women from fleeing to a nearby village. There is even an opinion that in this way women stored precious metals belonging to the family. But the most plausible explanation seems to be based on a folk legend.

The Padaungs believe that they are descended from the union of the wind and the dragon. Upon learning that the dragon was pregnant, the wind began to happily circle around his wife, until she gave birth to a large cocoon, from which a padaung emerged. In memory of this whirling of the happy wind, women wear hoops around their necks.

One way or another, a long neck in padaungs is considered a sign of beauty and well-being. Therefore, starting from the age of five, girls wear copper spirals around their necks (from the side they look like rings). Gradually, the number of rings (more precisely, spiral turns) increases, and the neck becomes longer and longer.

Women stop increasing the number of rings on their necks after they get married. In addition, by this age, the neck stops growing. In an adult woman, the number of rings on the neck can be up to twenty, and their weight is four to five kilograms.

But the statement that if the rings are removed, a woman is not able to hold her head and at any moment can break her neck - nothing more than a myth. In fact, pads are quite capable of turning and controlling the head, unless the weakened neck muscles have to be strengthened. They say the neck returns to normal after a couple of years.

How do you put rings on your neck?

The copper wire is twisted around the girl's neck by a specially trained craftswoman who is constantly engaged in this craft. The turns fit tightly to each other, forming a solid collar of rings.

How do women wash their necks?

Women have the option of sliding the rings to wash their necks. They also wash the rings themselves with a washcloth.

Probably the first time Europeans saw extraordinary women with long necks was when three of them arrived in London in 1935. The photographs have preserved this history for us.

Nowadays, wearing rings is no longer so necessary, but padaung women are in no hurry to take them off. The fact is that they have become a kind of attraction for tourists who come to the village of Padaungs in great numbers and are ready to pay a lot of money to see the "giraffe women".

A plain-fit white blouse with a V-neck is a traditional padaung outfit. It is worn by everyone, from little girls to old women.

Padaungs wear hoops not only around their necks, but also on their arms and legs.

The interesting people of Padaung (or Kayan) live in the highlands of Southeast Asia. Padaung girls from the age of 5 wear copper spirals around their necks. First, a spiral of six rings is put on the neck, and then each year their number is increased by one. By the time of marriage, the number of rings reaches its maximum, and after the wedding, as a rule, they are not added. At the same time, the woman's neck is stretched, which sometimes leads to an increase in its length up to 40 centimeters. Due to their exotic appearance, they began to be called female giraffes, and their areas of residence are very popular with tourists.

Padaung live in the border areas of Thailand and Myanmar, and their number is more than 50,000 people. The traditional occupation of the Padaung people is growing rice and raising livestock. The custom of wearing copper spirals around the neck dates back to ancient times. In every settlement there are women who have mastered the art of putting on rings. As soon as the girl turns 5 years old, she puts on her first rings.

In the future, the number of rings increases, and sometimes the design is so high and uncomfortable that it hinders movement and it is difficult for girls to turn or tilt their heads. In addition to rings on their necks, women wear rings on their arms and legs, and their national costume is complemented by a white shirt decorated with braid.

Tourists are told that the custom of wearing rings is associated with specific ideas of the Padaung tribe about beauty. The long neck is considered a symbol of well-being and beauty. But this custom has a more practical explanation.

According to the padaung themselves, such a design was intended to save them from tigers, meeting with which is still not uncommon in this region. Apparently, the men of the tribe could fight with the predator and fight back, but the neck of the women had to be protected.

According to another version, such rings served to identify the women of the tribe. The fact is that theft of girls by neighboring peoples, as well as unauthorized flight, flourished in this region. Therefore, the padaung came up with such an original way to protect their beauties from the encroachments of neighbors. After all, rings cannot be removed without special skills and devices, and men who go in search of a man can easily find a padaung girl. And even if they are removed, the girl's longer neck will be noticeable, which immediately arouses suspicion.

According to doctors, wearing conventional spirals does not negatively affect women's health. But sometimes the spirals are deliberately made too high. In this case, a greater effect is achieved and the neck becomes very long. But this hinders the mobility of the head, and the muscles designed to provide this mobility atrophy. If such women remove the rings, a neck fracture may occur.

Today, not all padaung women want to wear rings that were worn as a child. Some take them off and do fine without spirals. But in some villages in Thailand, the custom of wearing rings is considered not only a sign of beauty, but also a way of earning money. Tourists who come to Padaung settlements are happy to buy souvenirs and clothes, as well as take pictures with amazing long-necked women.