By Shane Doherty
Kachin State is situated in the mountainous far north of Burma. It borders India to the north-west, Tibet to the far north and China to the east. The true Kachin homeland lies between the Mali Hka and N'Mai Hka rivers, although over the centuries the Kachins have pushed south from this area driving the Shans, the Chins and the Palaungs out of most of northern Burma. They are thought to have originally migrated to the area from around Tibet.
The name Kachin covers a number of sub-groups. The largest are the Jingpaw and the Hkahku. Other groups include the Marus, and the closely related Lashi and Atsi, the Nung, the Rawang and the Lisu.
The military prowess of the Kachins was well known and in the late 19th century the colonizing British began to recruit Kachins into their own armed forces. Kachin units served under the British in both the First and Second World Wars, earning the tag "the Ghurkas of Southeast Asia".
The Kachins have also been notable for their receptivity to Christianity. Today the majority of Kachins are Baptists, with substantial communities of Catholics in some areas. Before the arrival of the missionaries in Kachin areas in the 1870s animist beliefs predominated, and ancient spirit worship survives in some mountainous areas.
Kachin tribes suffered heavily in the thirty-year civil war that began in 1961. Many Jingpaws, Marus and other sub-groups were driven from their villages or were conscripted as porters and later perished in the fighting. In 1994, however, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement with the central government, and since then the state has begun to open up, with villagers once again returning to their former homes.
Agriculture is the traditional economic activity of Kachin communities, with rice, maize, tobacco and vegetables being the main crops. Opium is also produced. They also rear domestic animals and supplement their diets with fish and game hunted during the cold season from December to February. Men clear and burn the forest plantation areas, while women are responsible for tending and harvesting crops. The traditional economy also included gold, silver and jade.
Traditional dress for women includes intricately designed skirts with embroidered jackets, adorned with rows of small silver disks. Men usually wear Burmese-style longyis colored in green and purple, with padded Shan shirts. Shoulder bags and swords are also carried.
Kachin social structure has a number of unique features. The Kachin are one of the few groups in Burma to have surnames, inherited in the same way as in the west. Society is characterized by an elaborate clan system. The clan which can be viewed as a huge extended family is far more important than the core family. Membership of a clan denotes kinship and familial relations as well as whom one may or may not marry. Today, the kinship system persists, and is a major reason why the Kachins have managed to retain a remarkably cohesive society.
