Beheading is what David did in he Bible against the Philistine Goliath.
Israelite Origin of Kukis & Kyrgyzes & their Mutual Relation
Kyrgyz consider themselves an imperishable people. Some even think the name Kyrgyz is a variation of the Kyrgyz word Kyrylgyz, “indestructible”. Israelis have also earned a similar reputation over the years. Both nations seem to arise again and again from a unending series of trauma, genocide, and destruction.
Despite the “divine favor” both nations may flaunt, they also uplift narratives that reveal humiliating national sins. The Manas Epic records the following slaughter: an enemy khan, Alookei, attacked the Kyrgyz and scattered them from Samarkand. The epic concludes they were destroyed because of sin:
…The poor people who came to Altay, and the heroes who were exiled survived their hardships, were separated from their people, and endured this on account of their sins.
Manasseh’s biblical tribe and their heroes were destroyed for similar reasons.
“The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land. They were very numerous … But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.”
This historic battle ended with Samaria’s capture about 721 B.C.E. The captives were deported. Eventually Israel and Manasseh’s scattered masses disappeared from history somewhere beyond the Euphrates. The tribes are now known as the mythological (real though) “Lost Tribes of Israel” who, according to biblical prophecy, are supposed to reappear in “the last days.”
Samarkand and Samaria
The Manas Epic presents enemy khans deporting Jakyb and his brothers from the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Andijan, and Talas. Samarkand deserves some attention in this analysis. The city’s origins date back to about 700 B.C., which correlates with Samaria’s deportation to areas on the Silk Road. A casual observer would rightly think Samaria’s deported captives brought the toponym of their capital with them. The suffix “kand,” means city or fort. If we break down Samarkand’s name it means “City of Samaria”. So Samaria and Samarkand’s deportation stories deserve comparative analysis.
From the Manas Epic
As for Alööke and Molto's Dreadful demands: They took large quantities of gold. If one couldn't give gold to them, they took their grazing livestock. If the numbers did not tally, they beheaded and killed the owner. They paid with blood and sent to their ancestors (to the dead) those who talked back, they caught and made them slaves. They destroyed everything, they brought on a great calamity. From the Altï-Shaar to Margilan, all the way to Kokand, & the sheikh with his soldiers wearing blue coats, in the lands of Bukara and Samarkand, were reduced in numbers and destroyed.
Ashym Jakypbek also mentions Samarkand in his version, Tengiri Manas:
Khans Alooke and Molto, conquering from the beginning – they came and attacked Samarkand and Anjiyan, then killed the hero Orozdu. When that was known they attacked Talas and left no man to lead the people. Bent elders and nursing babies were left. Pretty girls and ladies were taken. Ripped from life and livestock, only beggars remained.
The biblical chroniclers also note that only the poorest of the poor remained in the land after Samaria was attacked and deported.
The Manas Encyclopedia states that many versions of the epic refer to Samarkand as Manas’ fatherland. The mountains of Samaria, on the other hand, represent Manasseh’s fatherland.
The Scattered Ten
According to Ashym Jakypbek the ten orphaned sons of Orozdu were scattered from Samarkand in ten different directions.
Jakyb told Manas about the Kitai, Kalmak, and Manjuu attacking the Ala Too, destroying the pillars of the palace in Talas, felling the flag and scattering the 10 young sons of the Hero, Orozdu, in 10 directions when they didn’t have a chance to fight…
Jakyb’s history starts with ten brothers being scattered from Samarkand. Biblical Jacob’s northern kingdom ends with the ten tribes scattered from Samaria to the Silk Road, in the direction of Samarkand.
Jakyb’s history starts with ten brothers being scattered from Samarkand. Biblical Jacob’s northern kingdom ends with the ten tribes scattered from Samaria to the Silk Road, in the direction of Samarkand.
Samaria, Samarkand, Samakai
Later we will analyze a tribal people in Northeast India called the Kuki, who claim descent from Israel’s tribe, Manasseh. They sing about the time they were parted from their brothers on the Samakai Mountains. Dr. Khuplam, a Kuki scholar, said he believes Samakai (or Somakai) may be in Tibet because Kuki prayers mentioned Samakai in conjunction with Tibet, but Khuplam has not been able to locate the exact place of this “parting.”
Where were these brothers separated from one another? Could this place of parting for three ethnic groups be the same place? Kuki descendants of Manmasi (Manasseh) call it “Samakai.” Kyrgyz descendants of Manas call it “Samarkand.” The biblical record refers to Manasseh and “Samaria.” Or, if history really does repeat itself, could Samakai and Samarkand be historical repeats of Samaria? Or perhaps the descendants of Jacob remember a place of parting that sounds like sama-something and a father like Manase or something. Putting all the pieces of this historical puzzle together will not be accomplished quickly, and may require revisiting some traditional perceptions; like the etymology of Samarkand, and the overall role of the Bible in the Manas Epic, and the prevalent opinion about the disappearance of Jacob’s ten northern tribes.
The Israelites Who Lost a Golden BookKui
Any relation to the Kui people of Cambodia, Laos & Thailand? They are not far away so it seems likely. The Kuy, Kuoy or Kuay people are a hill tribe in northern Indochina. They are nearly half a million people. One of the areas they live is Champasak. Champa was the name of a kingdom in southern Indochina. Commenting on it I declared the possibility of this kingdom as having some Israelite origin. Interestingly the suffix Asak is, phonetically speaking, another form for Isaac, forfather of the Israelites. It's remarkable their love for trees & polytheism, just as olden Israel became.
According to different ancient tablets & texts there was a continent between Hawaii & Fiji that sunk eventually. This continent was called "the Land of Mu". This continent was also called "Land of kui". This land has been identified by some people with the Garden of Eden. These tablets, with other ancient records, bear witness that the civilizations of India, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt and Yucatan were but the dying embers of the first great civilization. They confirm one scholar's contention that the oldest records of man are not to be found in Egypt or the Valley of th e Euphrates, but in North America and in the Orient where the Mu civilization planted her first colonies. have traced this same story from Mu to India, where colonizers from the vanished continent had settled; from India into Egypt. The texts also indicate this was the place where man was created. This civilization was swallowed up by the waters. The truth is there are several other locations proposed for the Garden of Eden: the African Great Lakes, Missouri, Kalimantan, the Fertile Crescent.
Zobah or Aram-Zobah (Hebrew צובא ארם or ארם צובה) was the capital of an early Aramean state in southern Syria, at one time of considerable importance. In I Samuel xiv. 47, its king is supposed to have fought with Saul, but this is unconfirmed.
Its king, Hadadezer bar Rehob, allied with Ammon against David, who defeated Zobah and made the kingdom tributary to Israel (II Samuel 10.). In this war, Arameans from across the Euphrates came to Hadadezer's aid (II Sam. 10:16).
David defeated king of Zobah, in the vicinity of Hamath, n, when he went to set up his monument at the Euphrates River.
Apparently Zoba allied with Hamath forming the Aramean kingdom of Hamath-Zobah that became independent & was reconquered by king Solomon. ZOBAH - zo'-ba (tsobhah; Souba): The name is derived by Halevy from zehobhah as referring to its supplies of "bright yellow" brass; but this word might be more appropriately used to contrast its cornfields with white Lebanon. Zobah was an Aramean kingdom of which we have the first notice in Saul's wars (1 Sam 14:47).
Subiti , Tsubiti, Subatu or Subutu was an Aramean kingdom of Zobah (Aram-Tsoba o Aram Zobah) that was substituted by the Aram Damascus's kingdom appearing later as province or district of the Hamath's kingdom & of the Assyria's empire (when the kingdom was annexed to the empire) during the VIII & VII BC. It was at Damascus's north. It's thought that Tsubiti was Aram-Tsoba because the Ti as a suffix, indicates country.
Zemar (Biblical Hebrew:, Tzumur; Egyptian: Smr; Akkadian: Sumuru; Assyrian: Simirra) was a Phoenician city in what is now Syria. Zemar was a major trade center. Zemar (as "Sumura" or "Sumur") appears in the Amarna letters; Ahribta is named as its ruler. It was under the guardianship of Rib-Hadda, king of Byblos, but revolted against him and joined Abdi-Ashirta's expanding kingdom of Amurru. Pro-Egyptian factions may have seized the city again, but Abdi-Ashirta's son, Aziru, recaptured Zemar. Another name for Zemar was Zymira.
After the tenth century, Zobah is not mentioned in the Bible, but the city of Subiti, which is mentioned in the annals of Assurbanipal as having been conquered by him in the seventh century, is probably identical with it. The same city is mentioned in some broken cuneiform lists of towns in conection with Hamath and Damascus.
Subiti is placed between Kui and Zemar, and, where it is otherwise referred to, a position is implied between Hamath and Damascus. It would thus lie along the eastern slopes of Anti-Lebanon extending thence to the desert, and in the north it may have at times included Emesa (modern Homs) around which Noldeke would locate it. Damascus was probably a tributary state till seized by Rezon. Winckler would identify it with another Cubiti, a place in the Hauran mentioned by Assurbanipal on the Hassam Cylinder vii, lines 110-12. This latter may be the native place of Igal, one of David's "thirty" (2 Samuel 23:36), who is named among eastern Israelites.
The kingdom of Zobah in addition to its mineral wealth must have been rich in vineyards and fruitful fields, and its conquest must have added greatly to the wealth and power of Israel's king.
Wa or Vav means peg or hook in Hebrew.
Akha
Akha is in Arabic a word for calling the sheep. Many words in Hebrew end with akha. Akka & Akha are phonetically similar. In Hebrew the sounds k & kh are interchangeable. Perhaps the Akha people were Israelites of the tribe of Asher & named themselves after the city of Akko/Akka.
The name 'Akka is recorded in Egyptian sources from about 2000 BC, with three signs (the initial guttural, "k" and "a"; followed by the sign for "foreign city"). The city was renamed Ptolemais during the Hellenistic and later Roman-Byzantine period, but was restored to Akka following the Muslim conquest.
It is later in the territory of the tribe of Asher and according to Josephus, was ruled by one of Solomon's provincial governors. Throughout Israelite rule, it was politically and culturally affiliated with Phoenicia. Around 725 BC, Akko joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser V.
Akko may refer to the places: Acre, Israel; Akko, Nigeria; Hakko, Armenia. Not by chance Armenia & Nigeria are some of the most remarkable claims of Lost Israelites. Therefore those names might have been given after the one in the Holy Land.
Aka is also a Hebrew name meaning adornment.
Kaw
Kaw could derive from kav or kavvah: window Original Word: Part of Speech: Noun Feminine Transliteration: kav or kavvah Phonetic Spelling: (kav) Short. Definition: windows. Word Origin (Aramaic) from a root corresponding to kavah: to burn, scorch, brand.
In the next texts we see the Hebrew name Santal. This texts have middle eastern or nearby origins. To see that the hardly known name "Santal" is in a text from that area, makes it higher the possibility of the Santals being from the Middle East & being Israelites. The Syriac Cave of Treasures (ca. 350) contains an account of Nimrod. The Ge'ez Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (ca. 5th century) also contains a version similar to that in the Cave of Treasures, but the crown maker is called Santal, and the name of Noah's fourth son who instructs Nimrod is Barvin.
Hkamok
Words do not differ in meaning when they differ just in their dots. (A dramatic example involving another letter is the Hebrew wording "mi kamok˙a" and "mi k˙amok˙a", meaning “who is like you?” appearing right next to each other in the Prayer-book, with the letter ˚/k. Kamuk, which clearly resembles kamok, is an Arab name, therefore Kamok seems likely to have Semitic origin.
Hani
The Hani People
Hani is a diminutive of the Hebrew name Hannah and a form of Anna. It's a diminutive for Chana & Chen. From the Hebrew name (Channah) meaning "favor" or "grace". Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament. As an English name, Hannah was not regularly used until after the Protestant Reformation. The Greek and Latin version Anna, which is used in the New Testament, has traditionally been more common as a Christian name.The Hani or Ho people (Hani: Haqniq; Chinese: 哈尼族; pinyin: Hānízú; Vietnamese: Người Hà Nhì) are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 officially recognized nationalities of the People's Republic of China, and one of the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups of Vietnam. In Laos, the Hani are more commonly known as Ho.
Most of the 1,439,673 Hanis live in the valleys between the Yuanjiang and Lancang rivers, that is, the vast area between the Ailao and Mengle mountains in southern Yunnan Province. They are under the jurisdiction of the Honghe Hani-Yi Autonomous Prefecture, which includes Honghe, Yuanyang, Luchun and Jinping counties. Others dwell in Mojiang, Jiangcheng, Pu'er, Lancang and Zhenyuan counties in Simao Prefecture; in Xishuangbanna's Menghai, Jinghong and Mengla counties; in Yuanjiang and Xinping, Yuxi Prefecture, and (a small number) in Eshan, Jianshui, Jingdong and Jinggu counties.
Customs and Culture
Their language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibetan-Myanmese language group of the Chinese-Tibetan language family. Having no script of their own before 1949, they kept records by carving notches on sticks. In 1957 the people's government helped them to create a script based on the Roman alphabet.
The areas inhabited by the Hanis have rich natural resources. Beneath the ground are deposits of tin, copper, iron, nickel and other minerals. Growing on the rolling Ailao Mountains are pine, cypress, palm, tung oil and camphor trees, and the forests abound in animals such as tigers, leopards, bears, monkeys, peacocks, parrots and pheasants. Being subtropical, the land is fertile and the rainfall plentiful -- ideal for growing rice, millet, cotton, peanuts, indigo and tea. Xishuangbanna's Nanru Hills are one of the country's major producers of the famous Pu'er tea.
Total population (758,600) Regions with significant populations China: Yunnan Vietnam 21,725 (2009) Laos 1,120 (1995) Languages Hani, Hanoish languages Religion Animism, Buddhism, Christianity Related ethnic groups Akha, Yi, Lahu.
The 1995 census of Laos listed 1,122 Hani people, living in the three villages of Sikao, Khuchu Lin and Si Ben Chay in Gnot-Ou District of Phongsali Province. The Hani live near the Laos border with Yunnan Province, China. Ethnographer Laurent Chazee has listed a population of 750 Hani in Laos, comprised of 97 families living in 78 houses.
The vast majority of Hani (more than 500,000) live in southwest China. There are actually more than 1.2 million people in China who belong to the 'Hani nationality', but this figure includes the Akha and about a dozen distinct ethnic groups. Confusion between the Hani and the Akha is a major problem for researchers. The Chinese and Vietnamese governments do not separate the two groups. Some publications have listed more than 30,000 Hani in Laos, but this figure includes the Akha. There are only about 1,100 "Hani proper" in Laos. One source says they are "very recent arrivals in Laos, probably from Vietnam."
Over ninety percent of present-day Hani peoples live in the Province of Yunnan in southern China, located across the Ailao Mountains, between the Mekong River and the Red River (Yuanjiang river).
Most scholars believe the Hani originated in Tibet, and moved down to southern China many centuries ago. Hani legends state their ancestors lived in 1,000 homes on a plain far to the north of their present location.
The origins of the Hani are not precisely known, though their ancestors, the ancient Qiang tribe, are believed to have migrated southward from the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau prior to the third century CE.
The Hani oral traditions state that they are descended from the Yi people, and that they split off as a separate tribe fifty generations ago. One of their oral traditions is the recital of the names of Hani ancestors from the first Hani family down to oneself.
Among the Hani it is important to be able to recite their genealogy back to the progenitor of their race, Sm Mi O.
The traditional clothing of the Hani is made with dark blue fabric. The men dress in short jackets and in long wide pants. They also wear white or black turbans. The women dress depending on which clan they belong to. There is no gender difference in the clothing of children under the age of seven.
Hani are known for their vocal polyphonic singing. Eight-part polyphony was recorded in the 1990s. They play traditional musical instruments, end-blown flute labi (俄比). and three-stringed plucked lute lahe.
Part of thousand years old culture are terraced fields.
The Hani have a legend of a lost book. They claim they once had their own script, which was written on buffalo skin by the Creator God. On a long journey the Hani got hungry and ate the book, and ever since have been without a written script.
Typical Hani house. Hani houses are usually two or three stories high, built with bamboo, mud, stone and wood.The origins of the Hani are not precisely known, though their ancestors, the ancient Qiang tribe, are believed to have migrated southward from the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau prior to the third century CE.
The Hani oral traditions state that they are descended from the Yi people, and that they split off as a separate tribe fifty generations ago. One of their oral traditions is the recital of the names of Hani ancestors from the first Hani family down to oneself.
A son's name begins with the last one or two words of his father's name in order to keep the family line going. This practice has been handed down for as many as 55 generations in some families.
The Hanis prefer clothing made of home-spun dark blue cloth. Men wear front-buttoned jackets and trousers, and black or white cloth turbans. Women have collarless, front-buttoned blouses with the cuffs and trouser legs laced. Hanis in Xishuangbanna wear jackets buttoned on the right side and decorated with silver ornaments. They wear black turbans. Women there, as well as in the Lancang area, wear skirts, round caps, and strings of silver ornaments. Both men and women wear leggings. In Mojiang, Yuanjiang and Jiangcheng, some women wear long, pleated or narrow skirts, while others have knee-length trousers with embroidered girdles. Women in general like to wear earrings, silver rings and necklaces. Married and unmarried women wear different hairstyles.
The religious hierarchy of the Hani is divided into three main personages: the zuima that directs the main celebrations; the beima, responsible for practicing the exorcisms and the magical rituals; the nima that takes charge of carrying out predictions and to administer the medicinal herbs. This last charge can be performed indistinctly by men and women
Although there are now about 200 Hani believers in China, the Hani in Laos and Vietnam remain without a Gospel witness or a single church.
Eshan is Hani town & Eshan was a town of Judah in the uplands of Hebron (Joshua 15:52). No satisfactory identification has yet been suggested. Some think the name may be a corruption of Beersheba.
The Hebrew word for uncle is dod דוד (aunt is doda דודה). It is also a biblical word for lover. What's the connection between the two?
The scholar Klein suggests that the meaning uncle came first. He provides the following etymology:
Related to Syriac דדא (=uncle; beloved), Mandaic, Nabatean and Palmyrene dada (=father's brother), Arabic dad (=foster-father), dad (=play, game, joke), Akkadian dadu (=beloved child). All these words probably derive from infants' babbling 'dad'.
"Dad" as a word deriving from baby talk can also be found in English: recorded from 1500, but probably much older, from child's speech, nearly universal and probably prehistoric (cf. Welsh tad, Ir. daid, Czech, L., Gk. tata, Lith. tete, Skt. tatah all of the same meaning).
Does the name of the Hani river called Dadu come from the Akkadian word?
The supreme god of Syria, whose name is found in Scripture in the names of Syrian kings, Benhadad, Hadadezer. The god Hadad (= perhaps, "maker of loud noise") is mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions, and called on the monolith of Shalmaneser "the god of Aleppo." In the Assyrian inscriptions he is identified with the air-god Rammon or Rimmon. The union of the two names in Zechariah 12:11 suggests this identity, though the reference is uncertain, some regarding Hadadrimmon as the name of a place, others as the name of the god--"Hadad (is) Rimmon." The name "Hadad" is found in various other forms: Adad, Dadu, and Dadda.
Israelite or not, the name Dadu, name of one river going through Haniland, has a middle eastern origin, & as we read in the text above, its mentioned in the Bible.
Mohen or Mohan is a small border town situated in very south end of Yunnan province in China. There is a town called Mohan in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The name Mohen or Moen is often a shortened form of 'mohel' and sometimes spelled 'Mohen'.
Moen is also a common Scandinavian name. Some Jews from Norway and Sweden have adopted the name, Moen.
In olden times the Hanis used to have a concubine (In the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was less Marked than it would be amongst us. The concubine was a wife of secondary rank. There are various laws recorded providing for their protection (Exodus 21:7; Deuteronomy 21:10-14), and setting limits to the relation they sustained to the household to which they belonged (Genesis 21:14; 25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor could they share in the household government.) in the case that the wife could give no son after years of marriage. However, he was not supposed to forsake his original wife to remarry. Marriages are still mostly arranged by the parents.
The Hanis in Mojiang and Biyue have a very interesting custom for settling an engagement. The parents of both the girl and boy involved should walk some distance together, and so long as they meet no animals the engagement can go ahead.
The brides usually return to live with their parents only two or three days after the wedding ceremony and join their husbands again at rice-transplanting time.
In the early post-1949 days, local governments at different levels enthusiastically worked for the unity of different nationalities while mopping up the Kuomintang remnants, bandits and local tyrants. Between 1950 and 1957 the state allocated to the Hanis large quantities of relief grain, clothing, seeds and cattle, coupled with agricultural loans, to help them overcome their difficulties and develop production.
The Honghe Hani-Yi Autonomous Prefecture was set up in 1957 as a merger of the earlier Honghe Hani Autonomous Prefecture and Mongzi Prefecture. Meanwhile, a number of autonomous counties were established. Democratic reforms, with land reform as the central task, were started in 1952 and completed within five years. Land reform brought about profound changes in the relations of production: The peasants became the masters of their own land, their living standards improved, unity among different nationalities was further strengthened, and social order in this border area was enhanced.
Hani people worship trees and nature annually, with a solemn religious ceremony to express their reverence to trees and the nature. Wicked Israel worshipped trees too.
The Hanis have several Hebraic beliefs-traditions: deep love for their ancestors, three main priesthood subdivisions, marriage arranged by parents, tree worship, animal sacrifices, lunar calendar, new year in october, strict legal faithfulness to one's spouse...
The Qiangs are considered as lost Israelites & are their ancestors. Modern Qiangs are regarded as a separated ethnicity because the Hani separated from them.
Was the Hebrew alphabet the lost script they once had? Was their lost book the Torah?
For the Hani is very important performing aninal sacrifices, especially at appointed dates. As the ancient Israelites, the Hani also perform sacrifices if animals in order to avert bad situations.
In june they celebrate a festival that could rughly coincide with the Jewish shavuot. As for the Hani this is a happy occasion especially for the young people (they sing, dance, play on swings and hold wrestling contests), shavuot was considered the perfect time to confirm young people into lifelong study of Torah.
Legends, fairy tales, poetry, stories, fables, ballads, proverbs, mythology and riddles form their oral literature. Genesis is a legend describing the origin of all things on earth. An Account of Floods tells how men conquered floods.
Was "Sm Mi O" (their ancestor) Simeon? Not only that name resembles that of Simeon/Simon, because there's also a village called Simao. If the evolution of the Hebrew name Simeon gives Simão, why not Lost Simeonites would render Simao, which is practically the Same? Especially if they adopted their neighbor's languages.
Not far from Yunnan, China, there's a river in northern Thailand called Yom. Yom means "day" in Hebrew, but in Hebrew phonetics is close to Yamin, a Simeonite clan.
Hadad was the name of several Edomites, including two kings, mentioned in the Bible. The Edomites were related with the Israelites & were absorbed by the Israelites eventually.
The kingdom of Judah, in the south of the Promised Land, was formed by the Israelite tribes of Judah & Simeon. Is it a coincidence that there's a village in Haniland called Eshan just as there was a village called Eshan in the kingdom of Judah where, "by chance", it was Simeon as well.
Hani may also refer to:
Anthroponym
Hani (also Hany; Arabic: 'hānī هانئ "happy") is a widely heard masculine Arabic given name & last name. Hani is a South Korean singer.
Toponyms:island in Iceland, part of the Vestmannaeyjar islands, district of Diyarbakır Province in Turkey, town in Wenchi District, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana.
Theonym
Hani (god), a minor god of the Babylonians and Akkadians. It's interesting to see that there was a middle eastern god called Hani. At times the wicked Israelites accepted the gods of their pagan neighbors. Did the Hani take upon them the name of the Hani god? It is also remarkable that a Semitic language like Arabic has the name Hani as a frequent name.
The Aini people are part of the Hani people. Aini is a female Arabic name. Aini is also a Jewish last name. The name resembles that of Ainu, a people in Japan.
The Akha People
Total population (449,261) Regions with significant populations Burma, China, Laos, Thailand
Languages Akha, Lao, Thai Religion Folk religion (Animism), Christianity, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups Hani people
Flag of the Akha People in ThailandThe Akha are an indigenous hill tribe who live in small villages at higher elevations in the mountains of Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Yunnan Province in China. They made their way from China into Southeast Asia during the early 20th century. Civil war in Burma and Laos resulted in an increased flow of Akha immigrants and there are now some 80,000 living in Thailand's northern provinces of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai where they constitute one of the largest of the hill tribes. Many of their villages can be visited by tourists on trekking tours from either of these cities.
The Akha speak Akha, a language in the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Tibeto-Burman family. The Akha language is closely related to Lisu and it is thought that the Akha once belonged to the Lolo hunter tribes people who once ruled the Baoshan and Tengchong plains in Yunnan before the invasion of the Ming Dynasty in 1644.
Origins
Scholars agree with the Akha that they originated in China; they disagree, however, about whether the original homeland was the Tibetan borderlands, as the Akha claim, or farther south and east in Yunnan Province, the northernmost residence of present-day Akha. The historically documented existence of relations with the Shan prince of Kengtung indicates that Akha were in eastern Burma as early as the 1860s. They first entered Thailand from Burma at the turn of the 20th-century, many having fled the decades-long civil war in Burma.
Population distribution and indigenous status
Akha live in villages in the mountains of southwest China, eastern Myanmar, western Laos, northwestern Vietnam, and northern Thailand. In all these countries they are an ethnic minority. The population of the Akha today is roughly 400,000. A decline in village size in Thailand since the 1930s has been noted and attributed to the deteriorating ecological and economic situation in the mountains.
The Akha are often classified by the Chinese government as part of the Hani, an official national minority. The Akha are closely related to the Hani, but consider themselves a distinct group and often resist being subsumed under that identity. In Thailand, they are classified as one of the six hill tribes, a term used for all of the various tribal peoples who migrated from China and Tibet over the past few centuries and who now inhabit the dense forests on the borders between Thailand, Laos, and Burma. Few Akha in Thailand are citizens and most are registered as aliens. There is an oft cited lack of political or state infrastructure to address Akha, or any other indigenous issues in Thailand.
The Akha are not always treated or addressed as equals by the people whose countries they now inhabit. Speakers of Tai languages in Myanmar and Thailand refer to them as "gaw" or "ekaw" (ikaw/ikho), terms which the Akha view as derogatory. In Laos the colloquial term used by Tai speakers to refer to the Akha is "kho" (ko), often prefaced by the word "kha", which means "slave."
Language
Called "Avkavdawv," meaning "Akha language," by its native speakers, Akha is a tonal language in the Lolo/Yi branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. The vast majority of Akha speakers can understand the jeu g’oe ("jer way") dialect spoken in southern China, Thailand, and Myanmar. Some basic and systematic variations in regional dialects of Akha are discussed by Paul Lewis in his Akha-English-Thai Dictionary. Very few dialects of Akha do not share mutual intelligibility. The Akha have no written language, but there are several competing scripts that have been written by missionaries and other foreigners.
Is it a coincidence that another form for Akha is Avkav, a Hebrew name?
The Meaning of «Avkav»
The name of the eleventh month on the Jewish calendar, Av, literally means “father”. Kav or kavvah comes from the Aramaic root "kavah" meaning "to brand". If you join both Semitic words you have Avkav. The outcome would be something like "the father's brand". There's many brands, symbols... that distinguish the people of Israel from their neighbors, but the most remarkable is in Genesis 17:11: And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. They are the most noteworthy of Abraham's descendents. So Avkav, the brand of the father (Abraham) it was circumcision. Perhaps Akha's origin name is in Avkav because it's one form of Akha.
Akha villages and culture
The village of Mae Chan Tai in Mae Suai District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, is a more modern village. Note the large coffee drying platforms.Due to rapid social and economic changes in the regions the Akha inhabit, particularly the introduction of Western modes of capitalism, attempts to continue many of the traditional aspects of Akha life are increasingly difficult. Despite these challenges, Akha people practice many elements of their traditional culture with much success.
Akha society lacks a strict system of social class and is considered egalitarian. Respect is typically accorded with age and experience. Ties of patrilineal kinship and marriage alliance bind the Akha within and between communities. Village structures may vary widely from the strictly traditional to Westernized, depending on their proximity to modern towns. Like many of the hill tribes, the Akha build their villages at higher elevations in the mountains.
Akha dwellings are traditionally constructed of logs, bamboo, and thatch and are of two types: "low houses", built on the ground, and "high houses", built on stilts. The semi-nomadic Akha, at least those who have not been moved to permanent village sites, typically do not build their houses as permanent residences and will often move their villages. Some say that this gives the dwellings a deceptively fragile and flimsy appearance, although they are quite well-built as proved over generations.
Entrances to all Akha villages are fitted with a wooden gate adorned with elaborate carvings on both sides depicting imagery of men and women. It is known as a "spirit gate". It marks the division between the inside of the village, the domain of man and domesticated animals, and the outside, the realm of spirits and wildlife. The gates function to ward off evil spirits and to entice favorable ones. Carvings can be seen on the roofs of the villager's houses as a second measure to control the flow of spirits.
Houses are segregated by gender, with specific areas for men as well as a common space. This divide is said to mimic the function of the gate.
Another important feature found in most Akha villages is a tall four-posted village swing which is used in an annual ancestor offering related to the fertility of rice. The swing is built annually by an elder called a dzoeuh mah.
Akha hut with traditional thatched roofs.The Akha have traditionally employed slash and burn agriculture, in which new fields are cleared by burning or cutting down forests and woodlands. In such a system, there is usually no market for land. Rights to land are considered traditional and established over many generations. This type of agriculture has contributed to the Akha's semi-nomadic status as villages move to clear new farmland with each successive burn cycle. The Thai government has forbidden this practice, citing its detrimental effects on the environment. The Akha have adapted to new types of subsistence farming, but the quality of their land has suffered as they are no longer allowed to expand onto new plots. In many cases, chemical fertilizers are the only option for re-fertilizing the land.
In addition to their agricultural work, the Akha raise livestock including pigs, chickens, ducks, goats, cattle, and water buffalo to supplement their diets and to use for their secondary products. Children usually herd the animals. Akha women gather plants from the surrounding forests as well as eggs and insects the Akha will occasionally eat or use for medicinal purposes. The women and the men will often fish in the local lakes and streams. Some villages construct bee gums with the hope that a colony will nest there and their honey subsequently harvested.
The Akha are skilled hunters. Hunting is a male activity and a very popular one. It is a favorite pastime and a means of obtaining food. The barking deer is, perhaps, their favorite prey. Guns obtained from trading in the larger towns have begun to replace the use of crossbows in hunting.
Belief system
Akha religion — zahv — is often described as a mixture of animism and ancestor worship that emphasizes the Akha connection with the land and their place in the natural world and cycles. Although Akha beliefs and rituals involve all of these elements, the Akha often reject the casual categorization of their practices as such saying it simplifies and reduces its meaning. The Akha way emphasizes rituals in everyday life and stresses strong family ties. Akha ethnicity is closely tied to the Akha religion. It might be said that to be considered an Akha ethnically by other Akhas is to practice the Akha religion.
The annual ritual cycle consists of nine or twelve ancestor offerings, rice rituals, and other rites such as the building of the village gates. Many Akha rituals and festivals serve to seek "blessings" (guivlahav) from ancestors, which are according to the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, "...fertility and health in people, rice, and domesticated animals." Akha beliefs are passed down through generations by oral recantation. The Akha believe that the being who created earth and life gave Akha the "Akha Zang" (Akha Way), their guidelines for life. Akhas believe that spirits and people were born of the same mother and lived together until a quarrel led to their separation, upon which spirits went into the forest and people remained in the villages. Since then, Akha believe that the spirits have caused illness and other unwelcome disruptions of human life. The Akha year is divided into the peoples' season (dry) and the spirits' season (wet). During the latter, spirits wander into the village, so they must be driven out as part of a yearly ancestor offering. Both people and rice are considered to have souls, the flight of which causes disease.
The most important and revered position in Akha spiritual matters is given to a village leader, whose ritual responsibilities include initiating the annual rebuilding of the village gates and the swing as well as advising and instructing villages on important matters and settling disputes. Akha villages have an expert in ironworks called the pa jee who is considered of great significance in the village and who holds the second most important position within the society.
Perhaps the most important festival of the year is commonly known as the Swing Festival. The four-day Akha Swing Festival comes in late-August each year and falls on the 120th day after the village has planted its rice. The Akha call the Swing Festival, Yehkuja, which translates as "eating bitter rice", a phrase which references the previous year's dwindling rice supply incorporates the hope that monsoons will soon water the new crop. Festival activities include ritual offerings to family ancestral spirits at the ancestral altar in a corner of the women's side of the house. Offerings consist of bits of cooked food, water, and rice whiskey. The swing festival is particularly important for Akha women, who will display the clothing they spent all year making and who will show, through ornamentation, that they are becoming older and of marriageable age. Because the women dress up in their best traditional clothing and ornaments and perform traditional dances and songs for the villagers, the Swing Festival is also known as Women's New Year. The traditional New Year which falls in late-December is known as Men's New Year.
The Akha put a heavy emphasis on genealogy. An important tradition involves the recounting by Akha males of their patrilineal genealogy. During the most important ceremonies the list is recited in its entirety back over 50 generations to the first Akha, Sm Mi O. It is said that all Akha males should be able to do so. The recounting of this lineage plays a role in the incest taboo: If a male and female Akha find a common male ancestor within their last six generations, they are not allowed to marry.
The Akha have several sets of rules governing matters on life, death, marriage, and birth. Akha traditionally marry in their teens or early twenties. Polygamy is permitted. Marriages may be village endogamous or exogamous. Wife-giving and -taking relationships are central to Akha society, with wife-givers superior to wife-takers.
Twins are considered an extremely ominous occurrence, one where spirits are considered to interfere with human matters. The Akha believed that only animals could give birth to more than one offspring and therefore considered twins as beasts. Up until about 20 years or so ago, they would have been killed immediately. Akha men whose wives had given birth to twins would not be allowed to participate on the hunt for a specific period.
Certain types of death, like that caused by a tiger, are considered particularly bad; the bodies must be treated and buried in specific ways.
Missionaries have been active among Akha, especially since the mid-20th century. Some Akha Christians live in separate Christian villages supported by missionary funds. Although many Akha people may be considered converts by the missionaries, nearly 100% practice some mixture of Christianity and traditional Akha beliefs.
Being an ethnic minority with little easily accessible legal recourse, Akha everywhere have long been subject to rights abuses.
Perhaps the most important issue facing the Akha pertains to their land. The Akha relationship to land is vitally connected to the continuation of the Akha culture, but they rarely have "official" or state-sanctioned land rights or claims to their land as land rights are considered traditional. These conceptions of land are at odds with those held by the nation states whose land the Akha now occupy. Most Akha are not full-fledged citizens of the country they inhabit and are thus not allowed to legally purchase land, although most Akha villagers are too poor to even consider purchasing land.
It has been reported by rights groups that several land seizures of Akha land have been undertaken in the name of the Queen of Thailand. Originally a semi-nomadic people, the Akha are often relocated by the presiding national government to permanent villages, after which the government allegedly sells to logging companies and other private corporations access to lands formerly occupied by the Akha. The land onto which the Akha are displaced is almost always less fertile than their previous plots. On their new lands, the Akha can rarely produce enough food to sustain themselves and are often forced to leave and seek employment outside the villages, thus disrupting their traditional culture and economy.
In Thailand, laws have been passed that curb people's rights to the forest, including the 2007 Community Forest Act. According to the network of indigenous peoples in Thailand, "These laws and resolutions have had severe impacts on indigenous peoples' rights to residence and land. Under these laws and resolutions millions of hectares of land have been declared as reserved and conservation forests, or protected areas. Today, 28.78% of Thailand is categorized as protected areas. As a result, thousands of farmers previously living in the forest or relying on the forest for their livelihood have been arrested and imprisoned and their lands seized. Cases have been filed against them for the so-called encroachment on government land."
Despite having signed and ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Thai government has not changed laws to adhere to those recommendations emphasizing respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and their full and effective participation in protected areas management and policy-making.
The reasons given for Akha relocations vary, but a common response on the part of the Thai government is to cite a concern for the preservation of forests and the promotion of more sustainable agricultural techniques than the slash and burn agriculture traditionally used by the Akha. The Thai government's involvement in relocation might also possibly be motivated by concerns of national security.
Many Akha feel that the missionaries generalize about, or in this particular case, "paganize" the Akha traditional belief system, demeaning their longstanding beliefs.
What Does “Beth Shan” Mean? Origin of the Shan People?
Scholars tell us that “Beth Shan” means “house of lolling” (or, more respectfully but less accurately, “house of tranquility”). “Shan” is viewed as being the Hebrew verb which means “to loll”.
“Beth Shan” is one of the oldest cities in all of Canaan:
Everyone agrees that item #110 on the Thutmosis III list from the mid-15th century BCE is Beth Shan. But there is no final N there (even though N is the most common ending on the Thutmosis III list). Nor is it at all certain that there’s an aleph there either. Rather, after Beth and the initial Sh/shin, what we see at item #110 is first a single reed, then an R: A single reed is often viewed by scholars as being an aleph, but an eagle was an aleph; a single reed was not an aleph, even though a single reed sometimes, but by no means always, comes over into Hebrew as an aleph. The R there has traditionally been viewed as being a lamed/L, but the more usual case is that an Egyptian R was a resh/R in the Bronze Age, which later often softened in common words to a lamed/L in the Iron Age.
If the single reed represents a heth [rather than an aleph, with both heth and aleph being guttural sounds], and if the R is a resh/R [rather than a lamed/L], then what we are seeing at item #110 (for Beth “Shan”) is shin-heth-resh/$XR. $XR means “dawn, early morning”. This ancient west Semitic word appears in the truly ancient Patriarchal narratives at Genesis 19: 15; 32: 24, 26. Note that from a Canaanite or Hebrew viewpoint, that is a very sensible name for Beth Shan, since Beth Shan is located on the far eastern edge of Canaan, on the west bank of the Jordan River, and hence is where dawn first comes to Canaan. Excluding cities in the Transjordan, which are not part of Canaan proper, Beth Shan is located farther east than any other sizable city in Canaan. So it makes eminent sense for the original meaning of the city name that eventually became “Beth Shan” to be “house of dawn”. The ancient word for “dawn” is $XR, and that is precisely what we see at item #110 for Beth Shan, if the single reed represents a heth/X [not an aleph/)] and the R represents a resh/R [not a lamed/L].
What happened then to the R in $JR on the Thutmosis III list? As noted by Aloysius Fitzgerald in “The Interchange of L, N, and R in Biblical Hebrew”, in Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 97, No. 4 (Dec, 1978), an R can sometimes interchange with an N, even within Biblical Hebrew. This was particularly likely here, since N (not R) is the most common final letter in a west Semitic geographical place name (as we know from the 119 geographical place names on the Thutmosis III list). It appears that an Akkadian scribe in the mid-14th century BCE made that error/interchange at Amarna Letter EA 289: 20, where he wrote sa-a-ni for Beth “Shan”, with an N thus replacing the former R at the end of this city name. Note that the middle letter, as before, is still totally ambiguous. Both the Egyptian scribe on the Thutmosis III list, and the Akkadian scribe who wrote Amarna Letters for Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, knew how to write an aleph (or a heth), and chose not to do so for the middle letter of $JR/“Shar”/“Shan”.
With the identity of the middle letter remaining unclear, and with the final letter now being a nun/N (instead of the original R), the meaning of Beth “Shan ” was in limbo for centuries. $XN (unlike the original $JR/$XR) did not make sense. As discussed below, there probably was no Hebrew common word $)N (with an aleph in the middle) in existence at that time. The sound seemed as close to $(N (with an ayin in the middle) as anything else. $(N, with an ayin, meaning “to rest”, is an old, perfectly respectable word, which appears in the Patriarchal narratives at Genesis 18: 4 and is often used throughout the Bible. But the middle letter in $JR/Shan almost certainly was not an ayin. Presumably based on the sound alone, and with no apparent underlying meaning at all, we see BYT $)N, with an aleph, at Joshua 17: 11, 16 and Judges 1: 27. (Interestingly enough, in the construct state, such as at I Samuel 31: 10, 12, the mysterious middle letter drops out completely, leaving just $N/shin-nun.) The Book of Joshua in particular records dozens of Late Bronze Age city names accurately (regardless of when Joshua was composed or the accuracy of its account of a Conquest), apparently on the basis of some authentic ancient source as to Late Bronze Age city names.
It was probably only later, when the Jezreel Valley and all of northern Israel had fallen to the hated Assyrians and Babylonians, that the Jews of Judah came up with the new Hebrew common word $)N, with an aleph in the middle, at Jeremiah 30: 10; 46: 27; 48: 11. (Jeremiah relates to 6th century BCE events in Judah, after the Jezreel Valley had been lost for centuries to various conquerors. The only other two uses of $)N as a common word in the Bible are at Proverbs 1: 33 and Job 3: 18, whose dates of authorship are disputed.) In Jeremiah, we now see $)N, meaning “to loll”. Retroactively (by a thousand years or so!), Beth Shan in the foreign-held Jezreel Valley was now conceptualized, for the first time, as having a name with the derogatory meaning “house of lolling”. This, despite the fact that in ancient Canaan, there had probably been more action, and less “lolling”, at Beth Shan (Egypt’s only garrison in inland Canaan for centuries, which zealously guarded the finest fields of grain in all of Canaan) than at virtually any other city in the long history of ancient Canaan.
The point is that $JR as $XR, meaning “dawn”, makes perfect sense on the Thutmosis III list, whereas $)N (with an aleph), meaning “to loll”, is, by stark contrast, as suspicious (and late) a word as can be imagined in the entire Bible.
The meaning of “Beth Shan” in its original form on the Thutmosis III list makes sense if the single reed there represents a heth/X, not an aleph/). $JR = $XR. In that case, “Beth Shan”, being the easternmost city in Canaan proper, has a truly ancient name that very appropriately means “house of dawn”, or in English lingo: “House of the Rising Sun”.
Once we realize that a single reed on the Thutmosis III list may represent a heth (not necessarily an aleph, whose symbol was the eagle), many exciting things begin to become clear. In particular, JBR at item #99 on the Thutmosis III list can then be seen as being the foundation of XBRWN/“Hebron”. JBR = XBR. JBR + WN = XBR + WN = XBRWN/“Hebron”. Everything turns on recognizing that a single reed on the Thutmosis III list was not an aleph (an eagle was an aleph), and that accordingly a single reed does not always come over into Hebrew as an aleph/), but rather sometimes comes over into Hebrew as a heth/X. (And an R in a proper name on the Thutmosis III list often is and remains a resh/R in proper names, even if in corresponding common words the resh/R often later softens to lamed/L.)
Israelite patriarchs
If, we can understand the etymology of “Beth Shan”, then we can understand the etymology of the Patriarchs’ “Hebron”, and vice versa. $JR = $XR = “dawn” . JBR = XBR. J/XBR + WN = XBRWN/“Hebron”. Both etymologies make perfect, logical sense. “Beth Shan” definitely does n-o-t mean “house of lolling”!
The name Beth-shan in the Bible
The name Beth-shan occurs three times in the Bible but in the same context. At the conclusion of the battle of Mount Gilboa, king Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchi-shua were killed by the Philistines and Saul was heavily wounded. Fearing humiliation and torture, Saul and his weapon bearer committed suicide. When the Philistines found him the next day, they sent his weapons to their temple of Ashtaroth and impaled his decapitated body and those of his sons on the wall of Beth-shan (1 Samuel 31:10). Word of this reached the men of Jabesh-gilead, who promptly walked to Beth-shan, took down the bodies, brought them to Jabesh, burned them there and buried the bones under a tamarisk tree (1 Samuel 31:12).
Years later, a famine struck Israel and YHWH informed king David that this was happening because of the way Saul had treated the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1). David asked the Gibeonites to name their price, and they demanded seven descendants of Saul to be hanged at Gibeah. David conceded and gave them the two sons of Rizpah, Saul's concubine, and five sons of Merab, Saul's daughter. We don't hear about Merab's reaction to all of this, but Rizpah guarded the bodies of her sons against further violation. When David heard of this, he retrieved the bones of Saul and his sons from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had "stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan" (2 Samuel 21:12) and buried them in their family grave in Benjamin. That finally appeased the Lord.
Scholars generally assume that Beth-shan is the same as Beth-shean, but that is conjecture.
Beth-shan meaning
If the author of this story indeed meant Beth-shan as an unexplained contraction of Beth-shean, it means House Of Security (NOBSE Study Bible Name List), Place Of Quiet (BDB Theological Dictionary) or House Of Rest (Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names). But perhaps the author contracted this name to indicate that this House Of Rest became House Of Sharpness when it hosted the humiliation of Saul and his sons and in effect the monarchy of Israel at large.
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