（对于今天和明天的电子邮件数量，我们道歉–I’我想在我去印度之前记录下阿卡之旅，而我’我只有一天半的时间。一世’我也将尝试在网站上上传Akha照片–probably tomorrow.) ———————————-下午某个时候，我问阿卡杀猪的频率。作为计算机下载城市女孩，我当然对牲畜着迷…在亚洲四个月后，鸡和猪的新颖性开始逐渐消失，但是我’d never seen a pig slaughtered before, and I mentioned 那.

As it turned out, 他们 were slaughtering a pig 那 day! Asaw asked when, and 他们 said, “Right now!”所以，我们跑去看看。

On 的way, Asaw explained to me 那 这不是’正常的屠杀，但有礼节的要求。这头猪的窝很小–only two piglets–and 他们 both died. This made it a “bad-luck” pig, which had to be killed immediately and 的meat distributed through 的village. It also meant 那 的animal had to be killed outside 的village gates, up on 的hill used for such sacrifices.

（顺便说一下，（阿卡族村庄有非常认真的大门。传说是，很久以前，精神与人类生活在一起。后来他们吵架了，众神决定他们应该住在不同的地方。村门划定人类的界限’地方（村庄）和精神’地方（丛林）。他们’每年重新装修一次–保留了旧的门口，因此您可以通过在当前门口之前排队的老门口的数量来粗略估计村庄的年龄。游客触摸大门是禁忌，如果这样做，他们必须举行净化仪式–so 我没有’t.)

I asked Asaw to explain what made a pig a bad pig, and he explained 那 each animal had different standards. If a chicken, pig, or dog had a small litter (1-2 babies), 那 was a “bad-luck”动物，必须在第一天就将其杀死，并将肉分发给与主人无关的所有人。 （例如，教我纺纱和编织的阿卡（Akha）智慧女人阿赫塔（Ahta）与店主有关，因此’没有资格。阿苏和我当时’t, so we got some.) A pig/dog who had its entire litter die also had to be killed, but 那 wasn’t so bad–所有者可以半价出售肉。

Similarly, a pig 那 gives birth in 的village, a dog 那 gives birth in 的forest, or a cow 那 has twins (twins are considered very bad luck among 的Akha), all are unclean and must be slaughtered and 的meat distributed. Finally, a cow, dog, or pig 那 gets up onto 的roof has been possessed 通过 spirits, and must be killed.

You heard me. A cow on 的roof.

This is a neat trick, since Akha roofs start four or five feet off 的ground. I could see a dog doing it, if it got a running jump, or a pig (they’非常明亮），但母牛？

No one had ever seen it, but apparently 的elders assure them 那 it can and does happen. Apparently 的possessing spirit enables 的cow to walk around on 的roof, but as soon as you see it, 的spirit can’t keep 的cow up anymore and it comes crashing through your roof. 🙂 Since a possessed cow is major bad news (anyone who’s seen “Christine” can testify to 的evils of possessed livestock/autos), it has to be slaughtered.

（如果您正在查看这套仪式，信念和思想“How quaint,” you have obviously never been to a corporate team bonding event, or in fact to a corporate meeting. Any culture 那 comes up with falling out of trees as a “建立信任的练习” is not exactly in a position to throw stones; I suspect 的Akha would crack up immediately if 他们 ever saw 的elaborate rites around a corporate meeting. ‘Nuff said. 😉 )

So anyway, this pig had had a litter of only one or two, *and* 的babies had died, so it was being slaughtered. I ran up 的hill.

屠宰本身分两个步骤进行。正常情况下会割喉，但对于不洁的动物，会先在心脏上切开计算机下载切口。至少，我*认为*这是心脏–4到5个人压住了猪（计算机下载人闭上了嘴），计算机下载有砍刀的人在胸部的中间切开了计算机下载切口。我可以看到有节奏的节奏–then 他们 shifted and started sawing at 的throat of 的pig. (They didn’刺入心脏它更像是计算机下载横向切片。）

The pig, needless to say, was not happy about any of this and was uttering awful squeals. Oddly, 我没有’找不到特别难看的东西–也许是因为我处于记者模式，试图记录正在发生的事情。虽然照片很难–I don’t think I’如果你愿意的话’re interested I’ll email them.

穿过猪的喉咙花了惊人的时间–他们不断地穿过肌肉层，这时猪哼了一声，然后尖叫–but finally 他们 got through 的windpipe, and almost immediately after, 他们 hit a major artery/vein. Suddenly, blood was everywhere. It flooded up out of 的throat–猪抽了一两个抽搐，然后静止不动–and into a 弓l 那 a man was holding ready. They drained a surprising amount of blood out of 的pig: well over a quart!

After 的blood stopped flowing, 他们 turned 的pig upside down and carved off 的belly skin, exposing 的abdomen. They then started pulling out 的internal organs, putting them on a banana leaf.

我没有’t realized this, but 的abdominal organs are enclosed in a sheath of connective tissue–so 他们 were easy to pull away cleanly, just tug on 的connective tissue. Pulling out 的intestines was kind of gross, as 他们 were still attached at one end–the less said about 那, 的better.

After 那, 他们 split up into two groups–one cleaned 的internal organs, and one went off with 的rest of 的pig. I followed 的men with 的pig (all 的slaughterers were male), to where a fire was burning.

They flung 的pig on 的fire–Asaw explained 那 this was to remove 的hair. After one side was singed, 他们 flipped it over, and started scraping at 的carcass with knives and sticks. They flipped and scraped it until 的outside was burnt, and not a trace of hair remained. (Which is important, because their pigs are *really* hairy.)

同时，另一组清理了内部器官，切开了肝脏，洗了胃，然后将肠子切成小块。由于未消化的内容仍在其中，所以这有点毛病（我不’不知道大肠怎么了，没有’t ask–some things you don’t want to know!). But, 他们 washed 的whole thing out thoroughly, and cut each organ into thirteen pieces, one for each family receiving part of 的pig.

（那里’s nothing particularly significant about 的number thirteen–it could be more or less, depending on 的number of recipients–i.e., village families unrelated to 的owner.)

I asked if *everything* got cut into thirteen pieces, or if 他们 just weighed it out and approximated–但是没有，每个器官和大多数可识别的肌肉被砍成13块，因此每个村民得到的猪份额完全相等。唯一的例外是帮助屠夫的人的头和脚，以及为不洁的猪所用的大脑和舌头（对于不洁的猪），这些妻子必须已经怀孕了。

They brought back 的main carcass and hacked it into bits, which 他们 strung on bits of bamboo, skewered on sticks, or put in plastic bags to give to 的families, and 那 was 那–从生猪到完全分布的猪肉块，大概需要四十分钟。我很惊讶。

奇怪的是，它没有’t affect my appetite at all. I had kind of expected 的whole thing to be grosser.

On 的way back, we saw fires burning outside in 的yard of a number of houses, which is unusual–normally 他们’re inside, in 的kitchen area. I asked Asaw, and he said 那 unclean animals have to be cooked outside and eaten outside–and 的utensils used must be left outside overnight as well. Quite serious, here.

我们被邀请与（前）校长共进晚餐，吃掉我们的那头猪（我和她住在一起的那个女人阿塔（Ahta）与主人有亲戚关系，所以她不能’没得到）。他真是个好人–他已经担任校长四年了，但是认为这是计算机下载严重的头痛，因此放弃了这个职位。我们把猪当成幼虫吃，煮熟的阿卡（Akha）风格是一堆切碎的粗肉，煮熟后与香料混合，再与米饭一起食用。一世 ’我不太喜欢Akha型的幼虫（特别是因为我第一件东西是一块肝脏），但是由于那天要吃掉整只猪（剩下的剩饭必须丢弃），所以我吃了我的那份。它尝起来像猪一样。 ðŸ™，

晚餐后，我们喝了一些草药“to ward off 的effects of 的bad pig”–this wasn’t an Akha tradition, but a Chinese herbal medicine 那 的headman’s father/grandfather had bought from a Chinese guy for five silver 硬币, several decades ago. It’s good for settling 的stomach, a good idea when eating an unclean animal. It tasted very nice (which is unusual for Chinese herbal medicines)–like licorice tea.

That was more or less it for 的evening; we went back down to DAPA, where I spent 的evening. (No hot showers, however. *sigh*)

第二天，我开始学习编织和纺纱，但是我’ll leave 那 for another email.

田

Well. I now have 的world’最好的落梭主轴。轻巧，完美平衡，装饰华丽，永远旋转–哦，是的，还有纯银。 ðŸ™，97％，比英镑高一点。

I arrived at 的silversmith’s in 的early morning, along with Asaw, my new guide. (Chatree, my guide from 的previous day, was off with another tour group 那 day.) After a cup of tea, we got started, with cutting and mixing silver.

It’令人惊讶的是，阿卡（Akha）银匠需要多少设备。美国银匠（通常像美国手工匠一样）疯狂地挑剔拥有合适的工具：’•想*不用一堆复杂且通常昂贵的设备来制作白银：窑，戒指，铸蜡，珠宝锯，锉刀等。但是您可能可以购买全部的阿提（Ati）’一百美元的工具：一把可逆锤子（计算机下载圆边，计算机下载矩形），计算机下载铁砧，计算机下载生锈的弯刀，两把钳子，一对锡剪，一根扁平的铅，以及四五个装饰邮票。那’s it.

(Actually, 那’不完全正确。他有两种省时的现代设备：一台用于挤压银丝的轧机，另一台用于轧制扁平件。但是他没有’t *需要*他们中的任何计算机下载。）

回到白银。第一步是将一块90％的银切成四块。我首先将扁平的银薄煎饼放到火中，然后抽起波纹管。 （波纹管是计算机下载空心的木头，里面有计算机下载塞子；来回拉动将空气喷入小小的木炭火里。）Ati将燃烧的木炭堆在薄饼上，解释说，对于大块，将它们埋在热木炭中他们升温更快。我在波纹管上来回拉动，使火花飞散：不好的木炭，好的木炭没有’火花。不幸的是他没有’不能得到一种没有’不要产生火花（在这里我们不是在说木炭煤球），所以我们被困在了那里。

最终，在温度足够高后，他告诉我将其取出并切下。

切成阿卡（Akha）风格的银片非常简单。你加热直到它’s softened, put a rusty machete on top, and whack 的machete with a hammer until 的blade’s driven most of 的way through. Then you take 的machete out, lean 的silver piece up against 的anvil, and whack 的backside with 的hammer until it breaks in half.

Of course, it helps if you can hit 的side of a barn door with 的hammer. 😉

我没有’实际上在打击它方面做得很糟糕（我’我擅长重击ðŸ™，），尽管确实花了我两次尝试。这是因为他们没有 ’直到开始向我解释我应该做的事情，直到事情熄火为止，然后Ati向Asaw解释我应该做的事情，然后Asaw完成了复杂的小游戏，用英语单词点缀向* me *解释我应该做什么，白银已经充分冷却。翻译不’当您和您的翻译者都没有关于银匠的线索时，您的老师就无法很好地工作’以前从未尝试过教学，而速度至关重要。但这仍然很有趣。生活带来的机会很少，无法用锤子敲打东西。 ðŸ™，）

After 那, Ati weighed out 的silver, picked out an appropriately-sized chunk, and mixed it with bits of pure silver from 的gold shop. He handed me an old pair of hand-forged tinsnips/scissors and a tomato-paste can, and told me to cut 的can in half.

随之而来的是一场绝望的挣扎，使我（143磅的肌肉小动物，有大的哺乳动物的大脑）与锡纸和番茄酱罐子对立。您知道吗？看似无害的金属碎片会变得异常聪明吗？我花了十分钟不熟练地将罐子砸成一堆锯齿状的碎片–手工锻造阿卡剪板机’像我的丁香’我过去（更糟糕的是，–只是有所不同。）我仍然坚信，令人毛骨悚然的事情对我不利。更糟糕的是，当我为这件血腥的东西挣扎时，整个家庭都在开心地看着。

At any rate, I finally got 的can hacked more or less into halves, put 的silver in, and stuck it in 的fire to heat. Eventually, it even melted. 🙂

Molten silver is really beautiful. It glows red, but has little crackly bits coming off 的top where impurities (or maybe just chunks of charcoal 那 have fallen in) are burning away, and is molten silver underneath. Hot stuff. 🙂

阿提（Ati）向我展示了如何用吹管从熔融的银中吹出小木炭，然后用钳子将大木炭挑出来。然后，他让我用猪肉油脂在铸锭模上注脂，然后倒入银。（我尝试了第一次尝试，因为我使用了我最好的巧克力浇注技术，沿着铸锭模来回移动–but it turns out 那 silver needs to be poured quickly, from 的edge of 的mold. Silver is not 巧克力, a fact I will henceforth keep in mind. 😉 )

After 那, Ati took one of my misshapen ingots, whacked it in half with a few casual blows, and handed it casually to me. I gathered 那 I was supposed to whack at 的thing with 的hammer, and promptly did so.

（1）用锤子弄平东西比看起来要困难得多。用锤子敲打东西不是’t 那 hard (though it helps if you can hit 的silver and not 的anvil 😉 ), but getting it actually *flat* (and not dinted 通过 的hammer) takes a lot of skill. I rapidly turned 的thing into a misshapen lump, but it *did* get a little flatter…

(2) It takes considerable muscle to beat silver. Worse, every time you hit 的silver, it gets a little harder, and eventually it breaks. So you really want to thwack it *hard* two or three times, instead of giving it love taps. Combining this with accuracy is really hard–银匠必须具有不可思议的控制力和技巧。

By this point I was working up a pretty good sweat, 所以我 was glad to stop and feed 的silver through 的mill. (More steps than you expected? I was surprised too.)

磨坊或多或少是你的 ’d expect, a set of hand-cranked rollers with square-shape indents, which gradually compress 的silver into thinner and thinner square wire. (Ati also has a roller mill, useful for flat pieces.) This required absolutely no skill, so no problem. I can extrude wire with 的best of them. 🙂

After 那, we took 的wire piece out, I hammered it round (easy, as only light taps were needed), and then Ati showed me how to hammer a point on one end. I proved totally hopeless at this, 所以我 let him do it.

Then came 的hard bit. Ati had at this point worked out 那 I was more or less hopeless with a hammer, so handed me a test piece and gave me rough instructions on how to shape it. Basically, 的hammer has two sides: round and rectangular. The round side is for finishing and polishing, and 的rectangular side is for shaping. It’的宽度大于长度，因此会沿锤子的顶部和底部挤压出更多的银，因此可以用来成形钻头。如果用矩形边锤击一块正方形的银，则会得到计算机下载矩形。用圆边锤打它会产生计算机下载更大的正方形。

(I worked all this out for myself later, so 我不’t guarantee 的accuracy. At 的time, I was just told 那 的rectangular side was for shaping and I should hold it this way….One of 的major differences between Akha people and Westerners is 那 Akha learn best 通过 watching and imitating, Westerners have to analyze and understand everything first. This made learning really difficult.)

At any rate, Ati explained to me 那 hammering a round piece from a square one requires strategy: start in 的center and move 的mass of 的silver out towards 的edges, gradually shaping 的edges from corners to a circle. This sounded perfectly logical, but requires incredible skill to manage. 我没有’t get anywhere with it at all, as 我没有’几乎没有“feel” with 的hammer.

I discovered at this point, 通过 的way, 那 it is quite possible to turn flesh into silver, and also quite easy. Hit your thumb with 的hammer. The flesh underneath immediately turns black, since you’ve just destroyed all 的capillaries, but 的skin on top stays white, giving a darkish gray color 那 really does look very much like silver. It’s kind of neat.

哦耶: it also hurts. 我不’t recommend it. 🙂

They were all quite concerned after I thwacked myself, 所以我 explained 那 it was nothing (fortunately it was only a glancing blow), swallowed four Advil, and kept going. (One nice thing about 艾滋病生命周期: I am now pretty good at tuning out pain.) I eventually managed to pound 的test piece into a more-or-less-flat misshapen lump, whereupon I decided 那 shaping silver was beyond my current skill. I’肌肉发达，手指灵巧；但是将两者结合起来比我需要更多的练习’d有一天。此外，我的拇指很痛。 ðŸ〜‰

然后，阿提拿起锤子，在大约五分钟的时间里，高高兴兴地吹口哨，将一团银子锤成一块完美平坦的圆盘状。 （我怀疑是与魔鬼达成的协议。）然后，他将它捡起来，将一块岩石塞进一对生锈的镊子中，并用他的临时罗盘在边缘附近画了计算机下载圆。我想知道他打算如何切割白银，但是没有–他只是在检查它的圆度。他再次捡起它，扔进火中使其软化，然后小心而专业地锤击边缘。然后他画了另计算机下载测试圈，并再次进行了工作。半小时后，他递给我一张完全平整，圆圆的碟片。惊人。

(You have no idea how difficult 那 is: (a) no hammer-marks anywhere, (b) flat, and (c) circular. The man is a god. Very, very, very, very skilled.)

大约在这个时候，我被他的计算机下载朋友分心了’d过来，正在用竹子做竹子。他有计算机下载四英尺长的绿色竹子，并小心地将其切成细条，然后将其切得很细，以生产出柔软的长竹条。例如，适合将房屋绑在一起–实际上，这正是他使用它们的目的。出于明显的原因，枯水期是重建竹屋，改建屋顶等最实际的时间，因此在枯水期有很多建筑在进行。–实际上，在我在那里的那一周，他们重建了两所房子。 （由于草屋顶腐烂和白蚁吃掉了竹子，所以竹子房子需要每两年翻新一次，并每8-9年翻新一次。）

您可能想像计算机下载坐在那里的人会用计算机下载可控的小刀片在竹子上雕刻–例如瑞士军刀之类的东西。不。阿卡（Akha）村使用的刀具是带有12-18英寸刀片的大型手工锻造的东西，用于*所有*–清理土地，屠宰，砍柴，雕刻细部。这通常意味着雕刻的家伙坐在那里沿着巨刀的刀片拉动一小块木头，看起来像他’我要把拇指移开。这几乎就是这里正在发生的事情。 （但是，他没有将拇指移开–我在那里也没有其他人感到惊讶。我曾经设想过整个村庄都没有拇指的前木工，但是显然阿卡人比西方人灵巧得多，因为这种事故真的很少见。）

The guy also had his hair in 的classic Akha male haircut: shaved all over, with a little pony-tail on 的top of 的head. The shaved parts were growing out, so 的overall effect was short hair with a 5″ ponytail on 的crown of 的head. Kind of neat, actually.

大约在Ati执行奥术法术以刺穿磁盘并在主轴上焊接焊料的时候，他的计算机下载朋友的朋友出现了。 Asaw为我翻译了部分对话，这很有趣：有关缅甸的鸦片种植的一切。阿提’他的朋友最初是缅甸人，他的朋友仍然住在他们的老村庄。 （我为代名词感到抱歉–I don’不知道他们的名字。）他们今年在讨论’的鸦片作物，显然还不错–阿卡（Akha）传统上将鸦片作为经济作物来种植，因为鸦片在山上生长非常好，易于运输（体积小且不生根），并且现金价值高–对农村山区农民来说都很好。他的朋友不是’不再自己养鸦片，但向我解释了鸦片种植的原理–显然，计算机下载农民一年可以种植约1.6公斤鸦片（约3磅）。根据土地的质量，种植那么多的鸦片需要大约1/3到2英亩的土地–有些人土地更多，有些人土地更少。这需要很多工作，但不需要太多空间和金钱–and because it’s so valuable, it’易于运输，这很重要’不能住在道路附近的任何地方。

哦，他的朋友是缅甸人。他不能’t get into 泰国 legally, but no problem: 的border’很长，几乎没有人看守，所以他走了过去。

（它’s easy to see 那 泰国’只要邻国允许鸦片种植，关于毒品的战争将陷入困境。边界太长，且孔太多。缅甸对消灭鸦片种植者基本不感兴趣–they’re already fighting two civil wars in 那 region, one against 的Karen (pronounced Kuh-RIN) tribe and one against another hilltribe, so 他们 have other worries. The Burmese civil war is a major reason why hilltribes are migrating to 泰国, actually: it’在战争中很难种粮食。）

无论如何，在这一点上，阿提把我最完美的主轴交给了我’ve ever held–silver, about eight inches long, with a hammered pattern based on my sketched design, and *perfectly* balanced. (I wish American metalworkers could do as well!) It was a little too heavy for lace spinning, though, 所以我 asked him to make me another one. Which he did–花了他大约两个小时。它绝对是蕾丝纺纱的完美选择’我已经用它旋转了几百码。可爱的一块。阿提在大纺锤上刻上我的名字，他的名字和日期；我打算永远保留它。 ðŸ™，

Anyway, 那 was it for 的day at 的silversmith’s…later 那 day I went to a ceremony where a 厄运 pig was being ceremonially sacrificed, but 那’s another story…I’ll write it up later, along with 的spinning and 编织.

The Akha village was just fascinating; if you ever get a chance to go to 泰国, try going 那里 yourself, and living with them for a few days. This will teach you much more than any hilltribe trek will–most of those just pass through 的village and let 的tourists gawk for a couple of minutes. Living 那里 is way different. 🙂

田

好。我现在吃了狗。

It was sort of inevitable, really; I walked into 的village in 的middle of a ceremonial…no, wait, I’d better tell 的story in sequence.

我去了银匠’今天早上很晚，因为我丢失了一些电子设备，并花了整个上午寻找它。我们讨了一会儿，讨论课程和费用，并同意他明天花一天时间教我1500泰铢（约合36美元）。 $ 36不’听起来很像，但在这个方面，’熟练技工的工资…泰国的最低工资为每天$ 3.50，而泰国北部则相当贫穷。 （银匠在阿卡族人中广受尊敬；制作装饰件需要很高的技巧。）我想做计算机下载银球，但他说那太难了–他的兄弟已经学习了两年的银器加工，但仍然不能’不要自己做–所以我们同意了计算机下载更简单的方法：计算机下载银色的落锤。 （是的，细纱工，你现在可以停止流口水了。）’m将学习将银融化，将其锤打平，进行装饰工作，然后将整个东西焊接在一起。如果有时间我’除了主轴，还要制作一两个手镯。

（顺便说一句，银匠还很年轻，32岁或33岁–但自他出生以来，就或多或少地学习银匠’的膝盖。我喜欢他;他’有一种忧虑的幽默感，或者至少我认为他确实–it’您可以从面部表情中读取的内容令人惊讶。）

He was busy 那 afternoon (or we would have started immediately)–他需要去买白银–so we went on to 的weaver’s.

织女是我的向导’的婆婆，计算机下载61岁的聪明开朗的女人，有着长长的皱巴巴的棕色的脸，漂亮的头饰，牙齿不好，还有很多智慧。她有十个孩子（八个人–阿卡族人的儿童死亡率似乎很高），我的向导与24岁以下的最小的孩子结婚。显然，年轻一代对学习这样的东西完全不感兴趣，她想传递自己的知识。她’向我展示了她的各种美丽的手工’s done–包，绑腿，礼裙–还有她的靛蓝染缸她还向我展示了如何在Akha落梭纺纱机上纺棉，这比看起来要棘手。 （我将从详细的讨论中省去不熟悉的人，但让’只是说我非常尊重她的技能。）她的名字叫Ahta。

Ah. You want to know about 的dog.

好吧，当我们走进村庄时，遇到了一群坐在桌子旁的妇女。他们邀请我们进去吃饭–我要拒绝，因为我’d刚在银匠那里吃过 ’s, but remembered just in time 那 Akha custom requires you to enter a house and eat something if you enter a village. Not to do so is very rude–raises suspicion 那 you’是小偷或精神不好，而且运气不好（拒绝和他们一起吃面包）–所以基本上，如果你不’不想吃东西，你’d最好到村庄四处走走。

所以，我肯定地说，很好。

我们走到人们吃饭的地方，我的向导看上去有点担心，说，“Do you eat dog meat?” I blinked. He explained 那 他们 had just finished rebuilding 的bamboo house I’d seen them gathering bamboo for a few days ago, and it was traditional to feast 的workers on dog meat. So 那里 I was, caught in 的middle of a ceremonial feast…so what 的hell, I ate it. 🙂

狗的味道非常像鸭子，深色肉。或者也许像牛肉，但不那么丰盛。 （那’s insofar 和我一样 could taste *anything* around 的spices.) It’这样的东西实际上很好吃–肯定比老鼠或蝎子都好–but 的bits of skin had a disturbing texture: chewy on one side, but, well, *crinkly* on 的other side; I could hear my teeth going through it. Not bad, exactly, but a bit disturbing.

I asked my guide (several times) if 那里 was any particular reason for dog meat–如果它象征着什么–but he seemed quite puzzled 通过 的question, and just said it was traditional. Apparently dog meat is also traditionally served at weddings, 所以我 gather it’是节日的肉。我想是’就像圣诞节的鹅和复活节的火腿–I’d很难解释为什么我们要选择其中一种。

（不过，我可以在感恩节里度过愉快的一天。“Well, we have a legend, 那 when 的first white men came to live in America, 他们 were very hungry, and almost starved. They thought 他们 were going to die of hunger, until one day a friendly tribe came and brought them a magical feast, including turkeys, so ever since then we have eaten turkeys at Thanksgiving to commemorate 的occasion.”创造了伟大的部落传奇，’是吗？除了，我们可以*证明*它确实发生过，因此我们称之为历史。 ðŸ〜‰）

他们实际上是’t *quite* done with 的house, actually. They finished it 那 afternoon (it was fascinating watching them split bamboo with mallet and block, and carve out mortises with hand chisels). It is apparently traditional to celebrate completion of a house 通过 slaughtering a goat, but I unfortunately didn’t stay around to see 那. (I confess I am fascinated 通过 的butchering process, since I’我从未见过–though I doubt it would do much for my appetite.) I am certain, however, 那 的goat slaughter did take place; I saw them leading 的goat up 的road as we were leaving.

以便 was today. Tomorrow, I’m spending 的day at 的silversmith’s，重击白银。我打算拍很多照片。 ðŸ™，

田

P.S. I have now heard back from 的body painter, who says 那 this month’的法郎！杂志封面原为“very well received”（我认为这翻译成“立即蒸发”），很多人都说过’s 的best cover 他们’曾经有过。当然，这使我非常高兴。谁会想到的？ ðŸ™，

Well, it turns out 我没有’毕竟去阿卡山庄…这是一件好事，因为我’ve since been told 那 it’臭名昭著的毒品聚会。我自由地承认对鸦片的生长/生产充满了好奇心，但是自从我’m not even slightly interested in trying 的stuff, I’m just as happy to skip dealing with all 的folks who are.

Instead, I wound up at DAPA, which is an Akha assistance program 那 offers tours to Akha villages. My curiosity was piqued 通过 的idea of a *nonprofit* organization offering village tours, plus I figured 他们’d具有比外部组织更大的专业知识（和文化敏感性）。事实证明这是完全准确的…this was 的best hilltribe visit I’ve had so far.

阿卡族是居住在泰国北部的几个山地部落之一。 （其他人是卡伦（Karen），他们正在缅甸，北泰州，米恩和–aargh, I can’t remember 的other ones.) Most of 的hilltribes are displaced peoples, fleeing 的Karen-Burmese war, but some also come from 中国. The Burmese-Thai border is so long and so porous 那 泰国 can’不要让他们离开，但是泰国当然不是’既不热衷于拥有大量非法移民，’不想鼓励他们。

So, most of 的hilltribe peoples don’没有泰国国籍（他们’也不是任何其他国家的公民–really and truly dispossessed). This means 他们 can’拥有土地，上学，获得银行贷款，从事合法工作等。’基本上是非人–they’re not even included in 的census.

由于出于环境原因，他们的传统耕作方法（刀耕火种农业）已被取缔，这使得维持他们的传统文化确实非常困难。最终结果是极高的死亡率，文盲率和大量卖淫–there’s no legal way to get work, so many girls and women wind up in 的sex trade. This, of course, leads to a high rate of HIV infection.

（在亚洲旅行时已经非常清楚的一件事是，亚洲的艾滋病毒/艾滋病与贫穷有着千丝万缕的联系；您可以’告诉柬埔寨性工作者停止卖淫并获得“decent”工作，因为坦白说可能没有。美国几乎没有充分就业的情况很不寻常–我的意思是’对于寻求全职，有偿工作而无法在某处找到它的人而言，这是不寻常的–but 我不’t think 那’我在大多数国家都这样’一直在旅行。它’还很清楚，妇女的从属地位与在亚洲传播的艾滋病毒类似；女人根本没有能力向计算机下载不这样做的男人说不’不想使用避孕套，一般的好女孩/坏女孩双重标准会阻止妇女采取行动保护自己。 （例如，计算机下载艾滋病预防计划的负责人告诉我，警方认为一名拿着避孕套的妇女是妓女。）

反正我在哪哦对了…阿卡族。基本上，所有事物都与它们相对立，阿卡族与美国原住民的地位大致相同，只是他们没有’甚至没有保留。同样的文化问题也在发生：年轻人正涌向城市而又不回来，学校正试图铲除其文化特征（如果他们完全可以上学，他们将承受取泰国名字的沉重压力，等等。 ），而他们的部落手工艺品/传统在很大程度上已经消亡。例如，希尔部落博物馆的负责人告诉我，有些部落正在converting依基督教，因为他们的属灵领袖去世了，没有人可以取代他们 …我被介绍给他们剩下的唯一的银匠，以及为数不多的仍然知道如何旋转和编织的老妇之一。总的来说，这些手工艺品正在消亡，因为所有从业者都已经老了，没有年轻人在学习。

以便’这是个坏消息。好消息是他们还没有丢失手工艺品，也没有失去他们的文化身份…年长的妇女仍穿着阿卡（Akha）服装，其中包括精心制作的头饰和许多其他装饰品，再加上黑色外套。头饰非常壮观–我看过的银匠说，平均头饰包含2公斤白银（！），后件40枚硬币，装饰件5枚硬币，以及各种悬空碎片。头饰本身由计算机下载银色的后件和计算机下载覆盖在银色小半球中的紧身帽组成。还贴有印度，缅甸或中国的古钱币（纯银），还有由3-4个金币锤打而成的银球，以及大的扁平三角形。那’取银色，然后将它们串成一串鲜艳的珠子，绒球，鸡羽毛leis，马毛流苏等（很多）。它’的确令人印象深刻，并且精心设计的头饰。

They also wear a lot of embroidery on 的jacket–mostly couched-thread work in geometric patterns, but also various satin-stitch patterns (also geometric). Recently 他们 have imported 的Mien cross-stitch patterns into their work, so older patterns are geometrics, newer ones tend to be diagonal cross-stitch. It’s all exquisite, including 的equally-elaborate leggings.

这里’一组相当不错的照片： http://members.tripod.com/~tudtu/hillsty1.htm

Anyway, I negotiated with DAPA for a one-day trip focusing on spinning, 编织, and embroidery (woo!), with a side trip to see their silversmith. So we all piled into a four-wheel drive truck (Tiger brand!) and headed out to 的villages…first we stopped 通过 two 编织 areas with fairly typical Thai-Lao 编织 setups, and then headed out for 的silversmith’s.

银匠之路’的村庄非常恐怖。那天早上下雨了–在旱季这是非常不寻常的–所以当然所有的东西都是湿的。在铺好的道路上没什么大不了的。在泰国山麓的一条土路上，非常重要。想象一下旧金山的一座陡峭的山坡（我个人发现，甚至还铺满了路面，而且很干燥）。现在，用一条弯曲的，严重发情的泥泞小道代替整车的确切宽度，铺设一条漂亮的铺路。潮湿，所以整条路都是湿滑的粘土泥。现在，假设您的四轮驱动汽车在那座山坡上打滑，摆尾并沿其上坡路滑行，一侧有计算机下载下坡道。它’那种情况’非常有利于祈祷，相信我。我热切希望自己是基督教徒和天主教徒，所以我可以说计算机下载冰雹玛丽。在某些情况下，无论宗教信仰如何，都只需要冰雹玛丽。

However, we did eventually make it, and stopped at 的silversmith.

那真的很整齐。泰国只剩下一位阿卡（Akha）银匠，我在看着他。 （实际上，有两个；但是它们在同一家商店中工作，我认为它们是’兄弟。）他使用原始锻造（带有波纹管的小型木炭火），锤子和一些整形工具来制作精美的Akha头饰…我坐着看着，完全着迷，当他加热，锤击，重新加热，重新击打等七枚硬币时’将价值不菲的银变成计算机下载完美的扁平薄梯形，以弥补头饰的背面部分。他的兄弟（？）坐在附近的一张桌子旁，精心地将精美的图案锤入头饰的另一块中。

我应该提到硬币。传统上，Akha头饰由纯银制成，白银的主要来源是古老的印度，中国和缅甸硬币。 （我从他那里买了四印度卢比的银；它们的年代是1906年至1919年，上面印有爱德华国王和乔治五世国王。）因此，在“coins”，有这样的一块“20 硬币” or “thirty 硬币” depending on weight. I got him to weigh some 硬币, and got a weight estimate–约12.5克它没有’t always mean melted 硬币, though–他们还使用银锭，以及从金店购买的其他物品。

I “rescued” an exquisite silver bracelet from 的silversmith, in fact–he was going to melt it down for 的silver. It’纯银，近7盎司，雕花线条精美，厚实–I’尝试拍照。我可以’t穿（太小），但是’这么漂亮，我做不到’不要让它被摧毁。

Anyway, we sat for three or four hours watching him weld loops onto 的backs of old silver 硬币, hammer out 的flat piece, and demonstrate making silver spheres. First he takes a piece of silver, and hammers it into a flat disk. Then he heats 的disk (to anneal and soften 的silver), puts it into a spherical form, and slowly shapes it into a hemisphere. (They showed me 的wooden form 那 他们 used to use–半球刻成一堆原木–and 的buffalo horn 那 他们’现在重新使用。水牛角更好–更细，更难。他们看到了喇叭的一半，并用炽热的铁把完美的半球切成圆角。）

整个过程需要很长时间，需要很多技巧–只是将一块金属锤打成计算机下载完美的平坦甚至薄板就需要很多经验！观看绝对令人着迷。

From 那里 we went to 的Akha village, which is a fairly typical set of 那ched bamboo houses (I hate to call anything 那 well-made a “hut”）。在那里我遇到了纺纱工/织工，’一位61岁的女人，她绝对喜欢她的作品–她向我展示了一系列无休止的精美绣花包，夹克等，还演示了Akha纺锤上的旋转纺纱，这是一种在大腿上旋转的中旋下降纺锤。她的手很漂亮–主轴几乎自行跳动–她也教我如何准备棉花。

She takes plain ginned cotton and puts it in a pile on 的floor, then starts twanging a small wooden “bow” so 的string catches 的cotton bits. As she continues plucking 的bow, 的vibrating string catches 的fibers, separates them, and sends 的bits floating into 的air–10或15分钟后，这会产生均匀的蓬松纤维团。

(This is, incidentally, much harder than it looks; she let me try it, and my first attempt was, um, disastrous. Also very funny, although she valiantly tried not to laugh, and patted me encouragingly on 的back.)

She then picks out short bits of fiber and bits of hull, takes a small handful of 的finished fluff, and puts it on a wooden board. She then takes a slender piece of bamboo and rolls 的cotton fluff around it, producing a nice little cotton puni, ready for spinning.

（它 is not true, 通过 的way, 那 you have to spin cotton finely. She was spinning cotton singles on 的drop spindle 那 were 的diameter of cheap cotton string.)

无论如何，她还向我展示了她的靛蓝染缸和靛蓝染厂–两种，既不同于欧洲标准*，又不同于老挝工厂的*。一种物种干燥后闻起来很香–她给我看了一根小树枝，上面挂着它作为空气清新剂。我们没有’没时间让她演示染色，las，但是我确实从她那里买了一些可爱的靛蓝黑色面料–当然是手工编织的–还有一些可爱的柔软的白色棉织物。我想我’将其用于绣花。

我们以标准的阿卡（Akha）风格吃晚餐–sitting at a low table, dipping 餐饮 out of common 弓ls into our 弓ls of rice, and dipping bits of green stuff (mint, and some sort of spongy stem 那 他们 said was from a plant like taro (but not taro)) into 弓ls of spicy chili paste. Unlike 的Lao, 的Akha eat “regular”米饭用筷子。 （老挝人用手指将米饭揉成团，然后浸入辣椒或发酵的鱼酱中，或者用一些其他菜捏碎。）

阿卡（Akha）食品的香料含量很高（很多辣椒），并且以蔬菜为主。晚餐和早餐非常相似–fried eggs, instant noodles, chicken soup with bitter melon/bamboo shoots, chili paste (hand-pounded in a mortar!), and a spicy fish dish. To be honest, 我没有’t really like 的food much, but fortunately I had a nasty cold 所以我 really couldn’没什么味道。

每顿饭都有茶和不可避免的烈火–大米威士忌在老挝和泰国北部似乎很流行。这东西确实很糟糕–sort of what you’d get if you took firewater and aged it in green bamboo. (Oddly enough, I suspect 那’到底发生了什么。 ðŸ〜‰）幸运的是，阿卡（Akha）热情好客’t quite as insistent as Lao hospitality, meaning 那 while 的whisky does come out as soon as you sit down (whisky with breakfast??? yep!), it doesn’不会经常被补充。这意味着您*有些*希望可以通过用餐而不会完全感到不适。

As we were eating, I saw 的dog sticking its head into 的cooking wok and happily licking out 的leftovers, and 的cat sticking its nose into one of 的mixing 弓ls and doing 的same. Well, different people have different standards for cleanliness; fortunately, 的stuff all gets sterilized anyway durign cooking. I hope.

(Besides, 那里’s no point in bringing along all 那 medication for 餐饮 poisoning if you aren’t going to use it: see, 那里 *is* an upside…!)

无论如何，事实证明那是一次有趣的旅行，他们愿意让银匠教我！和织工…她拆开了刚用竹子雕刻的织机碎片（竹子还是绿色的…that’坐在她屋子外面的感觉很新鲜，并且会告诉我如何建造竹织机！首先是将桩挖到地下…so I’m spending 的next week or so in 那 Akha village, if I can schedule it around straightening out my 印度n visa. I have changed my Air 印度 tickets to Feb 20/March 18, 所以我’最好的猜测是2月15日至16日左右穿过曼谷。然后，前往印度德里和藏族瑜伽士行列。

I forgot to mention 那 那里 were a pair of beautiful white/brown sparrows nesting in 的bamboo house, perching on two grass-blades sticking out from 的那ching. It was beautiful to watch them hover. Apparently, 他们’重新象征好运；它’没有一间房子没有他们是不幸的。

anyway, 那’s 的news from here…sorry if today’s update isn’我很不高兴’我患有严重的感冒，并且我的大脑几乎处于关闭状态，这使写作变得很困难。我今天的主要任务之一是去寻找感冒药–I’m out of it right now, 所以我’米生活在止咳药水上。

(Parenthetical note: if you ever travel to 亚洲, take LOTS of cold medication. This is 的single item 那 I really regret not stocking–the “hard to get”像Cipro这样的抗生素很容易获得OTC–even in 老挝–但是没有抗组胺药，可待因或鸦片tin的咳嗽药（我不告诉你：鸦片tin）是很难得到的。而且我保证您会比不为人知的热带病多感冒…)

sniffling off to 的pharmacy, then back to DAPA to negotiate silversmithing/weaving lesson prices… 🙂

田

P.S. Did I mention 那 的villagers are also in 的process of rebuilding a house?!? THey had piles of bamboo stacked in front of one of 的houses, which is aparently nine years old…so I might get to help build a bamboo 小屋! complete with 那ching! Is 那 cool, or what???