Today, we shall be presenting to you the fascinating culture and traditions of the Kayan people who inhabit the Kayah State, which lies to the southeast of the Shan State.One special feature of their culture, which makes them outstanding and quaint, is the tradition of adorning their women, with bronze rings round their necks, ankles and legs.

According to ancient cultural tradition it was unquestionably believed by the Kayan that the beauty of their women lay in the bronze and copper rings that stretched their necks like graceful swans. That is why it was the custom to start putting these copper rings on the necks of female children from the age of 4 to 6 years old.

Young Kayan women, by the time they reached adulthood, almost always had 16 to 22 rings round their necks.In addition they wore 12 to 22 similar rings round the legs. The rings that encircle the necks of the Kayan ladies are not separate rings placed one on top of the other. A person specially skilled and trained for the job takes a long flexible rod of copper weighing about 25 ticals, and with great care, so as not to hurt the neck, winds it round and round to form a spiral of rings.

The Kayan ladies usually wear thick silver or metal bangles on the wrists and the clothes they wear are of thick cotton, hand-woven by themselves on low wooden handlooms called “Jut Khoke”.If you wish to pay a visit to the land of the Kayan, you will first have to go to Loikaw, which is the capital of Kayah State. From there you have to travel a further distance of 12 miles to get to Demoso ,and then proceed to Pan Pet village which is home to the simple and honest Kayan people of Kayah State.