Amy complains the rings bring her constant, and unwanted, attention.
"When I ventured out to a nearby Thai city with my friends, people pointed their fingers at us, saying 'here come the long necks'," recalls Amy.
"I kept quiet, but was very angry at them. I got hissed at by total strangers only because of my neck rings," she says.
Karen long-necked teenagers Muko(L) and Amy
© AFP/File Pornchai Kittiwongsakul
But Muko and Amy explain that the rings are coiled around their necks so tightly that they cannot remove them on their own.
The younger girls said they were told when the first rings were placed around their necks that they would make them look more beautiful and help them attract good husbands -- not unlike the justification for Chinese footbinding, a crippling practice that endured for 1,000 years until the communist revolution of 1949.
The rings cause the girls constant pain and discomfort, including headaches, stiff shoulders and muscles.
While the rings effectively make the neck look longer, in fact their weight pushes the shoulders and collarbones down by several centimetres. According to tradition the girls are never permitted to remove the rings, which force them to look straight ahead as they cannot move their heads.
To take them off, the girls have to see a specialist who charges 500 baht for the service. After some time, their shoulders and collarbones usually return to normal.
"I am secretly saving money for the ring removal," Amy confides. Muko, sitting next to Amy, says she plans to remove her rings when she finishes middle school next year.
"My mother does not know my plan. It's my secret," Muko says.
For 22-year-old Mari Muri, who wears 16 rings, the pressure to keep the rings died with her mother three years ago.
"My mother used to say neck rings would make me beautiful. But I've never believed in that," says Mari Muri, who sells colourful textiles, postcards and long-necked dolls, and has had the rings since she was five.
"I am supposed to add to my neck rings, but I've stopped doing that since my mother passed away," she said.
She said her 19-year-old sister Mu Ba removed her rings as soon as their mother died and moved to another refugee camp, says Mari Muri, who has no family name, adding that she is ready to take hers off "any time".
For Mayao, the 52-year-old, girls like Muko, Amy and Mari Muri are a disgrace to the Karen tradition.
"More and more girls are removing their rings. They don't appreciate our culture, which has been passed down through generations," says the petite woman, who proudly shows off her 25 brass rings.
"I'm worried our Karen tradition will disappear," says Mayao.
Amy, for different reasons, also expects the tradition to end.
"It's enough for me. I will not put neck rings on my daughter," she says.
More Links:
"Peoples of the World" - a short description of the Karen
http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Karen
Photography of Ban Nai Soi village
http://www.panasia.net/photo/thailand/bannaisoi/
Tourist-oriented website in Northern Thailand introducing the Karen
http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/longneck_karen.html
Picture and Thai tour info
http://www.chiangdao.com/chiangmai/karenlongneck.htm
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