Conservation is not just about words, it is also about rituals. For example, in Pga K’Nyaw, we have the “De Paw” or umbilical cord. The De Paw is connected to culture and spirit. In Pga K’Nyaw, we believe that a person must be respected at three stages:
The first is birth. For this, we take the “De Paw,” put it inside a bamboo tube, and tie it to a tree called the “De Paw” tree (see also ‘De Paw Thoo‘). Then we have what we call “Du Ta Ble” – a ritual related to the De Paw where, at that time, work stops for a day, in order to welcome the new member who has been born.
The second ritual is called Du Taw Kaw Ble. This is the wedding ceremony. It honors the couple who marry. The marriage lasts three days, to celebrate that this young person has become an adult—can now form a household, care for a family, and is no longer a child.
Finally, in Pga K’Nyaw culture we have what is called Du Na Kle Kaw, which means death. When someone dies, we must honour them. Our elders used to say that each person has 37 “khwan” or parts of the soul/life essence. For this reason, we stop work for about a week—we don’t hunt, we don’t gather forest or aquatic animals—because we fear the spirit of the one who has passed away. The “37 khwan” means we must wait until they are reborn and ascend to the sky, to heaven. That’s why we stop for seven days.
ลงรักปิดทอง/Long Rak Pit Thong, or ‘lacquering and gilding’, is both a Thai conservation technique and an act of worship and a way of making merit wit...
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