¹ Fieldwork among the Lahu Nyi was carried out in north Thailand (Phrao and Wiang Pa Pao districts) while I held the position of research officer at the Tribal Research Centre in Chiang Mai. My services to the Tribal Research Centre were sponsored by the then Ministry of Overseas Development (now Overseas Development Administration, Foreign and Commonwealth Office). I take this opportunity to thank my sponsor and also the Director of the Tribal Research Centre, Khun Wanat Bhruksasri, for making possible this long period of field research. In preparing the present article I have received the assistance of my friend and colleague in Lahu studies, Dr. James A. Matisoff of the Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, and of my wife, Pauline Hetland Walker. To both I owe many thanks.

² (a) People's Republic of China, 180,000; (b) Union of Burma, 80,000; (c) Kingdom of Thailand, 16,000; (d) Kingdom of Laos, 8,000. (Sources: (a) Jen-min shou-ts‘e 1965 [People's handbook], Peking, quoted in George Moseley, The Party and the national question in China, Cambridge (Mass.), 1967, 162; (b) Paul Lewis, “Lahus—ethnographic survey”, unpublished lecture notes, Chiang Mai University, 1969; (c) Report of the United Nations Survey Team on the Economic and Social Needs of the Opium-Producing Areas in Thailand, Bangkok, 1967, 8; (d) estimate based on personal information received whilst I was living in Thailand. The figures for Burma and Laos are largely impressionistic.

³ Yin, Ch‘en, “La Hu tsu [Lahu race]”, in Min-tsu t‘uan-chieh [Solidarity of nationalities] (Peking), no. 4, 48.Google Scholar

⁴ Walker, Anthony R., “Red Lahu village society: an introductory survey”, in Hinton, Peter (ed.), Tribesmen and peasants in north Thailand, Chiang Mai, Tribal Research Centre, 1969, 44.Google Scholar

⁵ Walker, ibid., 44–5; Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) village society and economy in north Thailand, Chiang Mai, Tribal Research Centre, 1970 (2 vols. mimeo), 22–23.Google Scholar

⁶ Walker, Lahu Nyi village society and economy, 189–92; “Blessing feasts and ancestor propitiation among the Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu)”, JSS, LX, pt. 1 [in press].Google Scholar

⁷ See Walker, “Blessing feasts”.

⁸ Walker, Lahu Nyi village society and economy, 285.

⁹ Walker, , “The La^ˇ Hu_¯ Nyi^¯ (Red La^ˇ Hu_¯) New Year celebrations”, JSS, LVIII, 1, 1970, 13.Google Scholar

¹⁰ “Wuo kuo de shau shu min tsu chien chieh—La Hu tsu [Brief introduction to the minority peoples of our country—The Lahu race]”, Kuang-ming Jih-pao [Kuang Ming Daily] (Peking), 18th 01, 1957.Google Scholar

¹¹ The first to reduce Lahu to writing using a romanized script was the American Baptist missionary H. H. Tilbe, during 1906–7; see Baptist Missionary Magazine (Boston), LXXXVII, 1907, 484Google Scholar. Tilbe's romanization has been improved over the years by his successors in the mission. A good example of the modern Baptist romanization is G'ui_ˇ sha ve Li_^ Hpu Aw_ˇ Suh^¯, the New Testament in Lahu published by the Bible Society of Burma in 1966.

¹² See particularly the following works by Matisoff, James A.: A grammar of the Lahu language, University of California (Berkeley) dissertation, 1967Google Scholar; University Microfilms (Ann Arbor), Order No. 67–11–648; “Lahu and Proto-Lolo-Burmese”, in Becker, A. L. (ed.), Occasional Papers of the Wolfenden Society on Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, No. 1, Ann Arbor, 1969, 117–221Google Scholar; “Verb concatenation in Lahu: the syntax and semantics of ‘simple’ juxtaposition”, Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, XII, 1, 1969, 69–120Google Scholar; “Glottal dissimilation and the Lahu high-rising tone: a tonogenetic case-study”, JAOS, XC, 1, 1970, 13–44Google Scholar; “Note on the orthography of Lahu”, in Walker, Lahu Nyi village society and economy, xxxiii–xxxv.

¹³ Of the seven tones of Lahu, five are open (long vowel) and two checked (short vowel, ending in a glottal stop). The open mid-level tone is unmarked (e.g. ca) in this orthography, and the other tones are represented by symbols attached to each syllable, as follows:

superscript straight line (ca ^¯): high-rising open tone;

superscript wedge (ca ^ˇ): high-falling open tone;

subscript wedge (ca _ˇ): low-falling open tone;

subscript straight line (ca _¯): very-low open tone;

superscript circumflex (ca ^{^}): high tone, checked;

subscript circumflex (ca _^): low tone, checked.

¹⁴ These are sounds to attract the attention of the wandering soul.

¹⁵ A poetic reference to the symbolic steps carved in wood.

¹⁶ In Lahu, a^¯ beh^ˇ aw_¯ or a^¯ hk'a^ˇ aw_¯. This is the cooked rice which each household must give to the household in which a person has just died. The rice is placed on the deceased's grave.

¹⁷ A poetically exaggerated reference to the silver jewellery in the bamboo basket. The law is a traditional Lahu monetary unit, equivalent to 2½ Indian silver rupees.

¹⁸ The gatekeeper of the land of the dead (referred to in the text by his proper name, Pu_¯ hpa_¯ sha hpa_¯) lives, according to the Lahu Nyi myth, in a large house at the gate of the land of the dead. At the birth of each human, Pu_¯ hpa_¯ sha hpa_¯ knows when he or she will die. If a sick person's soul has wandered towards the land of the dead before it is time for that person to die, Pu_¯ hpa_¯ sha hpa_¯ takes his great staff and beats the erring soul resolutely, sending it fleeing back to its rightful place in the land of the living. The reference to “nine” staves is simply a poetic device.

¹⁹ Lahu Nyi prayer language includes many couplets, used primarily for sound effect (na sha ve “pleasing to hear”). The result may be simple metaphor (e.g. “the land of death, the land of sickness” stands for “the land of the dead”) or wild hyperbole (e.g. “silver steps, golden steps” for the ritual wood-carving). In this instance, instead of “come back to the fireside” the specialist calls the soul to “come back to the guest's side of the fireplace in the village, come back to the household head's side of the fireplace in the house”. While there is indeed a distinction between the household head's side of the fireplace and that where visitors may sit, there is no “village fireplace”. However, since “village” and “house” form a pleasing couplet, they are both used in the prayer.

²⁰ A poetic reference to the white cloth placed in the bamboo basket as an offering to the soul.

²¹ A reference to the silver jewellery and coins placed in the bamboo basket to delight the soul.

²² This is said simply for sound effect. In fact, no baskets of chickens are offered to the wandering soul.

²³ The Lahu Nyi, in common with their northern Thai neighbours, believe in the transmigration of souls through all sentient beings.

²⁴ A poetic expression meaning “this big (i.e. prosperous) house”.

²⁵ “The hills are red”: they support no vegetation, and are therefore infertile and useless for farming.

²⁶ According to the specialist who recited this prayer, “the streams are red” also refers to infertility; that is they support no fish life.

²⁷ The officiating specialist ends the prayer by calling out this question to the people inside the patient's house.

²⁸ The people inside the house reply loudly in the affirmative.

²⁹ The specialist refers to the chicken which he holds. For poetic purposes he calls it the chicken “within the four corners of this village”.

³⁰ Both here and in verse 12 below this request is made in order to enhance the poetry of the prayer rather than in reference to the present occasion.

³¹ In this case the rite is for the wandering soul of a child.

³² “Yellow bird, green bird” (ngeh^{^} shi ngeh^{^} naw) forms a couplet. See n. 19 above on Lahu prayer language.

³³ In the Lahu original, “feet” (hkui) and “hands” (la ^{^}) are part of a couplet which refers to the bird's claws.

³⁴ “A white tiger, a yellow tiger” (la^ˇ hpu la^ˇ shi) forms a couplet in Lahu.

³⁵ cf. n. 15 above.

³⁶ Reference to the silver jewellery in the bamboo basket. In fact no gold is offered; in Lahu “silver” (hpu) and “gold” (shi) are part of a couplet.

³⁷ Reference to the small banana-leaf huts which are offered to the ancestral spirits (see my article “Blessing feasts and ancestor propitiation among the Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu)”, JSS, LX, 1 [in press]). They are mentioned here in order to impress on the soul the unpleasantness of existence in the land of the dead.

³⁸ cf. n. 16 above.

³⁹ Reference to the small circular wickerwork tables around which Lahu sometimes sit for their meals. Among the Lahu I knew, such tables were infrequently used.

⁴⁰ cf. n. 20 above.

⁴¹ These are household objects in daily use. The specialist means “come back to the house”. Sieve and winnowing-basket are not used in the rite.

⁴² Here “red” (nyi) and “white” (hpu) are part of a couplet and do not refer to the actual colour of the strings, which may be black, white, or red. Cf. p. 18 above. However, no inference about the strings' colour symbolism can be drawn from this verbal juxtaposition, which according to the specialist is uttered solely for sound effect.

⁴³ This reference to markets, which features in several Lahu Nyi prayers, is obscure. The man who recited this text said that he used the imagery simply to encourage the soul to return. White and yellow form a couplet, and “nine divisions” is a poetic way of saying many divisions, i.e. a big market.

⁴⁴ i.e. the familiar village sounds of people, animals, etc.

⁴⁵ cf. nn. 27–8 above.

⁴⁶ The specialist who recorded this prayer said the soul of his patient had wandered away into the jungle where it had no place to eat and sleep, and consequently it suffered.

⁴⁷ cf. n. 15 above.

⁴⁸ cf. n. 19 above.

⁴⁹ cf. n. 18 above, and also n. 53 below.

⁵⁰ Reference to the chicken held by the specialist during the rite. Cf. pp. 18–19 above.

⁵¹ cf. n. 36 above.

⁵² This means “do not get lost in the jungle”.

⁵³ “Feet” (hkui) and “hands” (la _^) are part of a couplet, not specific references. The meaning is “order this soul to be returned to the body of this man”.

⁵⁴ The specialist who recorded this text explained that G'ui_ˇ sha, the supreme Lahu supernatural, owns two birds: one called “Kai_¯ hk'a^ˇ ti_^”, apparently a chicken (kai _¯ is “chicken” in Thai), and the other called “Ngeh^{^} hpu ti_^” (ngeh ^{^} means simply “bird” in Lahu). He said that when a person's soul wanders from his body, these two birds call it t o return to the body. They also cry for the long life of the people.

⁵⁵ The “two white servants” are G'ui_ˇ sha's two birds.

⁵⁶ cf. p. 18 above.

⁵⁷ cf. p. 18 above.

⁵⁸ cf. nn. 27–8 above.