In the past, Mlabri people did not have wedding ceremonies.
When a young couple would like to live together, the man would take his
parents to talk with the parents of the woman. When the families of
both acknowledged and agreed to live together, the man would take the
woman to build their own house. Before that the parents of both would
have blessed the couple’s marriage. When everything was done, they
would live together in the house they built and be married. The woman
would then change her first name to follow her husband’s, for example
if her husbands name was Ali, she would become ‘YaAli’. Women would add
Ya to the start of her husbands name. “Ya” means wife, so YaAli means
Ali’s wife. When they have a child, then they will change the name of a
child to follow the father’s name, first they will change the first
word to be Ei as this means father name. So a child of Ali, will have a
name as Eili, Eiti.
Meanwhile, the marriage of the Mlabri is
prohibited so that they do not marry with their relatives no matter how
many generations apart they may be. If they know they are related,
then they are unable to marry. Also, in the past, Mlabri tribe did not
encourage their children to marry outside the tribe because they feared
new diseases such as AIDS and also feared that outsiders would bully
or disliked their tribe.
Nowadays, Mlabri people still perform weddings as in the
past. They do not ask for a dowry, they are not engaged and they do not
organize the ceremony. The parents simply talk to each other and make a
decision. If the couples love is for another, parents do not mind it
just means that they are husband and wife from then onwards.
Source: The Mlabri community at Baan Boonyuen, Moo 13, Thambon Vieng, Rongkwang district, Prae province.
Informants: 1. Weera Srichawpa
2. Phin Srichawpa
3. Nlikarn Chawphanaprai
4. Duangporn Naamjaikiri
5. The youths: Mai, Nueng, Amara and Kaewta
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