File:Shans at home. With two chapters on Shan history and literature (1910) (14577636639).jpg

Identifier: shansathomewitht00miln (find matches)
Title: Shans at home. With two chapters on Shan history and literature
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Milne, Leslie, Mrs., 1860-1952 Cochrane, Wilbur Willis
Subjects: Shan (Asian people)
Publisher: London : John Murray
Contributing Library: University of British Columbia Library
Digitizing Sponsor: University of British Columbia Library

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dawn till the sun is high inthe heavens, long lines of people stream in from everypoint of the compass. Shans carry their goods intwo baskets of the same weight, nicely balanced,suspended from each end of a bamboo pole, whichrests on either shoulder. The pole is not at rightangles to the body, but is carried in a slanting posi-tion. If one basket hangs in front of the right breast,the other is behind the left shoulder, and vice versa.Sometimes the pole is placed across the back, at thetop of the spine, and grasped by both hands. Thisposition is only used for a momentary relief to theshoulders. On market days the character of a Shan village iscompletely altered; its streets are filled by peopleof strange speech and costume. There are manyKachins, descended from ancestors of Tibetan origin,who come down from their village homes high upin the hills. Nearly all Kachins can speak and under-stand a good deal of Shan; indeed, the people of thedifferent tribes use Shan as a common language. A
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I i i I KACHINS r,v^ hill woman may be distinguished at a distance from a lowlander, as she carries only one basket; it rests on her back, suspended from a band which crosses the head immediately above the forehead. Kachin men carry their baskets in the same manner as Shans. The dress of the men of both races is alike, though Kachins often wear turbans of a brilliant scarlet shade —a colour never worn by Shans. Kachin women weave gaily coloured bags of elaborate designs; the patterns are different from those ornamenting Shan cloth, but both races sprinkle their designs with svastikas ; indeed, some of the bags are completely covered by this emblem, repeated again and again. Kachin women wear short skirts descending only to the knees ; they are of strong, heavy cloth, bright in colour when new, but dingy when old, owing to the dirt with which I they become engrained. Kachins seldom wash them- I selves; they work and sleep in garments which are • rarely removed until they become so

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