Becoming

Immersed in the Local Community Through a Traditional Wedding Ceremony

Objective

Build on existing relationships between GVI and the local community
Allow volunteers to experience traditional Karen culture first hand
Increase awareness and knowledge of Karen culture through documentation of the event
Get ideas for ways in which GVI can become more part of the community

Summary
Without the support of the wider community, projects such as GVI Chiang Mais elephant reintro-
duction project would not be sustainable. So when the group of 5 placed interns came up with the
idea to stage a traditional wedding in the village, everyone at GVI Chiang Mai thought it was a great
chance to become even more immersed in the culture. The main idea was for two of the interns (a
couple who have been together for a number of years), Jordan and Karen, to get married in the tra-
ditional way; building on existing positive relationships within the community and also allowing the
chance to document an important part of Karen culture. The interns were the main organizers of the
event, with the day itself proving a great success. As the western world begins to have more and
more of an influence on the younger generation of Karen people, it becomes ever more important to
document traditional cultural practices. Videos and pictures from the day have already been made
into a short film which can be shown to future volunteers as well as a wider audience. Apart from
this, the event allowed volunteers to appreciate even more of Karen culture first hand; with many
volunteers increasing the bond that they have with the village.

Note: Karen (KA-ren) is the name of the intern that got married, not be confused with the name of
the local people that live in the village; the Karen (ka-REN).

Report

GVI Chiang Mais elephant reintroduction project is
located within a small Karen hill tribe village called
Huay Pakoot, in the mountains of North Western
Thailand. The staff and volunteers here work closely
with the local community, which is an important as-
pect of the project; essential in working towards the
projects end goal of creating a sustainable model
that the village can one day take over themselves.

The ongoing community work involves teaching Eng-
lish to mahouts and villagers as well as children at the
school, running after school activities, helping with
events at the temple, attending local events, support-
ing village teams at sporting competitions etc.

The idea of a traditional wedding was initially con-
ceived by two of the interns, Karen Moy and Jordan
Trigilio, who have been a couple for a number of
years. Both Karen and Jordan became really involved
with the community and became friends with many of
i. Karen and Jordan pose for pictures in their traditional Karen wedding clothes.

GVI.2014.2


the villagers during their time on project; they loved the community and wanted to find a way to
highlight the uniqueness and beauty of this culture. The idea gained momentum after mentioning it
to the other three interns who were excited to be involved and also thought it would be a good
community engagement activity. The next step was to find out if the idea was actually doable by
talking to the villagers. The first port of call was the homestays of Karen and Jordan; Root and
Orachon respectively, who would be the venue providers as well as provide a lot of assistance with
the preparation. The strong relationships that Karen and Jordan had built with their homestays en-
sured that they were extremely happy to be involved in the wedding. Root especially had a smile
beaming from ear to ear when talking about it.

With this great response from
their homestays, the group of
interns immediately began to
plan the event, coming up with
ideas amongst themselves as
well as liaising with members of
the community; as it was a
community event, it was im-
portant to get the community
involved as much as possible,
helping to build a genuine in-
terest for the event within the
village. Chewy Dee, our lead
Mahout, was instrumental in
helping with the organization
due to his ability to speak Eng-
ii. Intern Stefan plays the guitar during the wedding ceremony, while Old
lish, Thai, and Karen. The in-
Chief sings and claps along to the music
terns, however, knew enough
of the local Karen language to
find out some of the information themselves. The interns were also able to fundraise all the money
needed to pay for the wedding (food, drink etc.) themselves.

All the organization for the event was completed in plenty of time and the day went off without a
hitch. On the day of the wedding, volunteers were invited to help with food preparation at both
Root and Orachons house. Two pigs were bought from the neighbouring town, Mae Chaem, and
were killed and cooked for the celebration. The wedding party was split in to two groups: Jordan
stayed at Orachons, whilst Karen remained at Roots with the volunteers going between the two
houses. Once the preparation was complete Karen returned home to change in to the traditional
Karen wedding clothing with the female interns and her Maid of Honour, staff member Danielle Ri-
ley. Jordan stayed at Orachons with his best man, intern AJ, volunteers and the male villagers. Upon
Chewy Dees instruction Karen and her wedding party returned to Roots, ready for the ceremony to
commence. A few of the young village girls were on hand to ensure that the Karen clothing was
worn correctly throughout the day and helped with any outfit changes.

Jordan was then escorted from Orachons house to Roots and was given a shirt and a Karen top to
change in to for the ceremony. The ceremony itself took place in the living room in Roots house
where several mats were placed for Karen, Jordan, AJ and Danielle to sit (Karen and Jordan sat to-
gether with AJ and Danielle either side.) The ceremony then began with a gijou, where the village
elders would tie white string around Karen and Jordans heads and wrists, binding them together.
Once they had been tied together, other villagers then lined up to tie more string around the wrist of
the entire wedding party, blessing them for the start of their life together. Throughout the ceremo-

GVI.2014.2


ny, Root encouraged intern Stefan to play the guitar and sing, which was enjoyed by all the volun-
teers and Old Chief enjoyed dancing. The village elders then returned to talk to Karen and Jordan
about the importance of marriage in Karen culture and how important this is for them.

After the ceremony the wedding party visited both Orachon and Roots to eat a meal at both houses.
Once a lot of food had been consumed, the wedding parties separated again, with the females stay-
ing at Roots and the males at Orachons, as is tradition. The wedding parties were bought back to-
gether again later in the evening, when Jordan was once again escorted back to Roots and both
himself and Karen were given married Karen clothing to change in to. After this took place, both
groups were finally free to join each other and finish the celebrations together; with Karen and Jor-
dan able to spend time together as a married couple.

All the volunteers and staff enjoyed the day and felt like they had been part of a truly traditional
event. Photos and videos from the day will be used to compile a record of Karen culture for future
volunteers to see and learn from, and possibly even shared to a much wider audience. Videos, such
as traditional singing performed by elders of the village, have already been used in a film depicting
the interns time on project. It is important to document these events as much as possible, due to the
increasing influence of the western world on the younger generation of Karen and Thai people.

GVI.2014.2