Project Phongsali 2011: At school event we count participants from eighteen different ethnic groups.

March 13, 2011
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Week Six

Day Thirty-Seven:

Tomorrow is International Woman’s Day, a time to celebrate the many diverse contributions that women throughout the world make to family, community and nation.  In Laos, all government offices and schools will close and the event is certain to inspire daylong parties.

Here in Muang May the partying has already started and schools are already closed.  When we asked teachers why they were off work today the explanation was, “School is closed today because tomorrow is Woman’s Day.”

It could be that the event I attended this evening, a fashion show, was the reason that classes were cancelled, since the school provided the venue, the equipment, and the furniture to stage the show, and students provided the labor to pull it off.  In preparation, students emptied every classroom of tables and then banked them together to form an expansive checkerboard surface that served as a stage.

As we pass through villages in Phongsali we usually can identify the dominant ethnic group by observing the manner in which women dress.

The event was more a celebration of cultural diversity than of clothing or coiffure. Phongsali is the most ethnically diverse province in Laos, a country with more than 60 indigenous ethnic groups, and among those groups, many bear names that stem from a distinctive fashion worn by their women.  Hence, names such as Tai Dam (Black Tai), Tai Deng (Red Tai) or Striped Hmong.

Tonight, most of the village turned out to watch high school students, dressed in clothing unique to their heritage, parade across the makeshift stage while the school orchestra performed strains of classical Lao music. All totaled, eighteen teenage couples boldly presented themselves to the audience, each representing a different ethnicity.

Among the couples, rarely did the young man’s clothing distinguish him from the other men on stage.  A few wore suits but most wore undistinguished shirts and pants, and any variety of footwear, from sandals, to running shoes to brightly polished oxfords.  For the most part, the men could easily disappear into a crowd in any American city.

In contrast, the women were all embellished from head to foot in clothing and accessories unique to their cultural heritage.  I’m certain that any adult in the audience could immediately identify the ethnicity of every woman on stage.

I’m at a disadvantage since I’ve yet to encounter every ethnic group in the province and observe their characteristic dress, but tonight I could identify a fair number of the groups:  Lao Loum, Khamu, Lolo, Akah, Mien, White Hmong, Green Hmong, Striped Hmong, Phu Noi, Tai Lu, Tai Dam, and Tai Deng.

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