Discover the Life of Karen Community at Doi Si Than Ecomuseum

“Doi Si Than” is the name of a cultural district that was named by the villagers of Lom village, Mae Pakhi village, Pang Bo village and Khi Ma Fa village after developing an ecomuseum with Mahidol University. These villages are located along four creeks, Lom creek, Mae Pam creek at San Sai Subdistrict, Phrao District, Chiang Mai Province.

Doi Si Than people has a variety of house, traditional and contemporary styles. There are wooden houses, chopped bamboo, thatched roofs, cement stilts houses, artificial wood walls and tiled roofs.

On the cold nights, Karen people will comes to firing, sipping tea, talking and discussing the stories of family and community.

"Mue Sa To" a basic Karen dish to pairing with rice. It has chili and salt as a basis with a variety of household ingredients each day, such as chicken, canned fish, frogs, kale, pork rind, cabbage, jackfruit.

Karen people is happy when they have enough rice for eating and family gathering, grandparents, parents and grandchildren. They rely on the the close relationship of the community, living among diverse ideas. beliefs and values.

In the past, back strapped weaving was a fundamental feature of Karen women. There has the advantage of being able to weaving at home or carrying  to the fields. The traditional weaving uses threads from home-grown cotton and is dyed with natural dyes. Village women weave shirts, wrap-around skirt, and bags for household members and relatives.

In the past, they used natural materials as millet and wild banana seed. Now they commonly used beads and yarn. Karen women create handicrafts with the best of their abilities.They develop handmade accessories to be a medium for telling stories about ethnic life.

There are many types of plants such as rice, sown plants, creepers, herbaceous plants and root crops. In the past they would rotate the plantation every 7 years, then the old upland field recovered to be their yearly food source and habitat for wild life.

The are less and less rice field in the area. Today, most of the upland field crops are mainly maize, some cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, and peanuts. Now the villagers have turned their upland rice fields into orchards and upland crop field.

Doi Si Than people grows two types of rice, upland rice and lowland rice. Upland rice field is drought tolerant and can be grown by less water, but requires a lot of planting area. Lowland rice field is grown by  less area, but needs fertiliser and pesticide.

Rice grain (Bue), a product from the field becomes cooking rice (Me), the energy food of Karen people. Karen rice is heaping, soft and chewy. There is the fulling and nourishing dish for hard working.

Valuable asset in the field

Orchard is an alternative way of making a living for Doi Si Than people. After unsuccessful in mono crop, the villagers are growing perennial fruits such as mango, lychee, and longan instead. This is a new hope with the higher costs.

Forests have been the life world of Karen people for a long time.
In the past Doi Si Than people was the mahout for wood trade in this area and they can still harmoniously live in the forest.

Bamboo is a main local plant that grows naturally. There are many types such as Rai Bamboo, Tong Bamboo, Bong Bamboo, Hok Bamboo, Sang Bamboo, Lek Bamboo, Hop Bamboo, Hia Bamboo, and Khao Lam Bamboo. They can be selected to use for housing, cooking, making basket and more.

Karen people use Sang bamboo to build a house. Its duration is most suitable for housing such as pillar, roof, wall and folk. The older the wood is the more durable. In addition, Hok bamboo, Hop bamboo and Khao Lam bamboo can also be used to housing.

Rai bamboo is suitable for making water mug and others. They can also be used to make knife handle or small items. Natural bamboo becomes a household container and creative contemporary food and beverage packaging product.

Karen people or the mountain people originally lives in the midst of nature. The abundance of nature is the stability of life.Now a new generation brings urban lifestyle to be their esteem. Life in the forest of Doi Si Than people is in the midst of changes in environment, socie