Burman Karen man

Burman Karen woman

The Karen, also known in Thailand as the Yang or Kariang, are an ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. The Karen live mostly in the hilly eastern border region of Myanmar, primarily in Karen State, with some Karen in Kayah State and southern Shan State and in western Thailand. The total number of Karen is difficult to estimate; most estimates are of approximately 3 million Karen in Myanmar, with approximately 400,000 more in Thailand, where they are by far the largest of the hill tribes. Download high resolution version (764x972, 183 KB)Padaung female, by Burman artist Yatanabon Maung Su Scanned from Soviet magazine Ogonyok (1955) by Mikkalai File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (764x972, 183 KB)Padaung female, by Burman artist Yatanabon Maung Su Scanned from Soviet magazine Ogonyok (1955) by Mikkalai File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (744x1044, 201 KB)Karen female, by Burman artist Yatanabon Maung Su Scanned from Soviet magazine Ogonyok (1955) by Mikkalai File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (744x1044, 201 KB)Karen female, by Burman artist Yatanabon Maung Su Scanned from Soviet magazine Ogonyok (1955) by Mikkalai File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Kayin State is a [[administrative divisions of Burma and also known as Karen state. ... Kayah, also called Karenni State is a state of Burma. ... Shan is a state located in Burma, which takes its name from the Shan people, the majority ethnic group in the Shan state. ... A hill tribe is any one of around twenty ethnic groups living in Northern Thailand. ...

The Karen are agriculturalists. Most are Buddhists, mixing that tradition with animism, although a sizeable group has converted to Christianity. The Karen language is poorly understood by linguists, and the large number of dialects may actually consist of up to twenty distinct but closely related languages. The Karen language closely related to the language or languages of the neighborhing Kayah. Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Animism is the belief that personalized supernatural beings (or souls) inhabit all objects and govern their existence. ... Christianity is the worlds largest religion. ...

Although known historically for their friendliness and hospitality, the Karen have become part of the strife and struggle that surrounds their homeland. A decades-long civil war for an independent Karen state, called Kawtoolei, ended in January of 2004 with a cease-fire between the military government of Myanmar and the Karen National Union, the major Karen rebel group. The civil war caused an estimated 125,000 Karen to flee to refugee camps in Thailand, and perhaps 200,000 Karen have been internally displaced within Myanmar. The Karen National Union (KNU) is an armed group operating in the border area between Burma and Thailand. ...

External link

• Karenpeople.org (http://www.karenpeople.org), a not-for-profit gateway to information and resources on the Karen peoples of Burma, Thailand, and elsewhere
• Karen Emergency Relief Fund (http://www.karenemergency.org/index.html), Helping the Karen People of Burma
• Karen.org (http://karen.org/), The Official Karen website