Karen ethnic youth should conserve Karen traditional weaving and Karen alphabets.

“I think our lives are connected by threads. We’re weaving our own quilts as we go along and it has been my experience that there are so many threads that connect people. Invisible threads, strong threads, sparkling threads, but I think there is so much interconnectivity between people and I acknowledge that and I see it all the time. I think some of that is divine”.

Kathy Garver

Karen traditional weaving and Karen alphabets are the parts of Karen lifestyle and Karen culture becauseboth of them are the representative of Karen people.For Karen people, the traditional weaving and Karen alphabets are important for them. It is like the geneof Karen and the symbol of Karen life. If we lost one of them, Karen life will be incomplete. Our ancestor usually tells their descendants that we must protect both of our traditional heritage because it is Karen life. If no one knows who a Karen is, when they see our traditional weaving and alphabets, they will understand.

First, Karen traditional weaving is a part of Karen culture that is important for Karen people,one of the ethnic groups in Thailand. It is the culture that represents Karen people. This one no need to mention again because you already mention it before. Just continue with the weaving.For this weaving, only women can do it because Karen people believe that it is the work for women and men aren’t suitable for weaving. Men should go to the forest for hunting the animals. That is one of the ideas that is still conserved in the current time.

“Once you can write an alphabet, you can write a book of 100 million pages. It’s just a matter of believing it as possible, and taking the cross millimetre by millimetre.” Israelmore Ayivor

Second, there are two kinds of Karen alphabets: Karen English alphabets that we call “Lif Romeif” and Karen Burmese alphabets that we call “Lif Waj.” Both of them are different, especially in writing,but the pronunciation is the same. We cannot tell where Karen alphabets are from, but in the past, Karen was a great nation so that Karen Burmese wrote Karen history and record it in the textbooks. However, Karen alphabets are important for Karen people because it is one thing that showsus that we are Karen and shows to the others who we are. Our weaving and our alphabets are losing their existence because of the influence of the development.

Therefore, Karen youths aren’t interested in their cultures because they think it is old-fashioned, and they said that, “We should follow the modern world.” After that, they will not realize who they are and they will abandon their culture like they have never thought about it.So that is why we should require Karen youth toconserve their weaving and Karen alphabets. We think that Karen youth will become the new generation that will conserve their own culture in the future. If they realize that how their weaving and their alphabets are important for them, they conserve it, and both of them will be the materials which they will love. We have to teach them how Karen’s weaving and Karen alphabets are beautiful for the ethnic people. We must support them. On the other hand, it isn’t easy for Karen youth toconserve their weaving and their alphabets, If they were born in a non-Karen society because the place where they were born has an influence in their life. They need to learn different culture and use the alphabets that are not their own alphabets. Consequently, they will lose their original culture.

For example, I was born in Thailand, and Ihave gotten Thai Nationality. I have to speak Thai and use Thai alphabets. It is one crisis that I am facing and the other Karen youth must be facing also. There will be many questionsoccur inour mind such as why we have to learn it because we were not born in that society, we use this society languages, their cultures, and so on. If we have never learnt our own tradition, we don’t understand how it is important for us.Finally, we will not

conserve everything that you should conserve.So this is the reason why the Karen youth should conserve the things that reflect Karen lifestyle and attitude: Karen weaving and Karen alphabets. Karen weaving is the making of Karen shirt which Karen people must wear because it is tradition which let us know who we are. If they know who they are, they will respect themselves

and the others. In the current situation, the new Karen generation doesn’t know how to weave Karen shirt and they don’t know the meaning of the Karen traditional clothes. Inthe same way, they just know that I am Karen and the clothes that I am wearing isour traditional clothes that my parents have weaved for me. But they have never thought how it is important for their life. Every Karen clothe that they are wearing reflects their lifestyle, their ethnic thought and their tradition. If they don’t realize that Karen weaving should be conserved, one day, it isgoing to be lost from their cultures and their life.

Second, Karen alphabets that Karen people use for their writing reflect our knowledge whichis we can create our own writing. Karen people or Karen youths that wereborn in Thailand or abroad cannot write Karen alphabets because they have to use the alphabets which have influenced their life.For example, Karen youth who was born in Thailand must use Thai alphabets for their studying and their daily life and they will not have time for learning their original alphabets that important for them to be conserved.

But they cannot reject the influence of their society that control them for learning the other cultures that aren’t their original cultures. In the end, they will forget their own alphabets and they tradition.So that’s why both of Karen traditions are important for their life. It helps them understand their original ethnic life and they will see the wonderful thing in their traditions. But if they don’t conserve it, one day, they don’t have any history totell for their descendants. So they are very important for Karen youth.

Karen youth will be an adult in the future that will tell to their descendants about Karen weaving and Karen alphabets. Karen youth parents should tell how Karen weaving and their alphabets are important for them. If they have time, their parents should teach about Karen tradition. If we usually tell the wonderful of our original traditional to our descendants, they will love their own tradition and their ethnic life. In Thailand, there are many ethnic organizations that support the ethnic traditions. They should hold anexhibition topersuade the ethnic youth tolearntheir original traditions. On the other hand, their school should also support because school is the

mainland for studying. So if we can open the ethnic culture for learning, they will understand the wonders of their culture. Then, they will realize how the ethnic traditions are essential for them. For example, Karen youth who was born in America, it is better for them to study Karen traditional weaving and Karen alphabets because Karen youth American Organization supports the traditions of Karen people who live in America. If the organization has a strong connection and help the ethnic youth who present their cultures, they will love it and would like to show how beautiful the tradition is! Everything that we have prepared for them is beneficial for them.

In the past, we had studied that only women must study Karen traditional weaving because of Karen traditional laws. But nowadays, men and women can learn how to weave the Karen shirt because we are in the society that men and women have equality, freedom, and liberty. We can share our traditions to the other nations and other ethnic groups. I thinkit is a good idea that Karen youth should do. Karen traditional weaving is famous nowadays because many famous designers like Karen shirt decorationand they would like to present it in the modern world. Karen traditional weaving will be the inspiration for the designer who is falling to the colorful Karen Shirt and Karen traditional weaving method. It isbecause the method for weaving Karen shirt can save the world from the global warming, which affect to the atmosphere for the world and destroy the environment in the world. That’s why many people are in love with Karen traditional weaving method. So Karen youth should learn this point because they can present Karen traditional weaving as eco-friendly.

Our method doesn’t use a machine toproduce the Karen shirt. But we use our hands for weaving.We have usedthis method for a thousand years. If Karen youth is interested in Karen traditional weaving, they can transfer Karen shirt to the producer and they can get money from selling the products and they can invite Karen people to learnit.

If the Karen youth conserve Karen traditional weaving and Karen alphabet, they can promote their traditional and it is the one way for conserving their traditions.For Karen alphabets,

we can open a course for teaching those who want to learn Karen Language and Karen Alphabets because many people in Thailand who are a native speaker of Thai work with Karen people, especially in the field of human rights. It is because Karen people who don’t study in Thai school,

some of them lack of the education. If one day, they areviolatedby the people who have knowledge, some of Thai people can help them if they understand Karen language and Karen Alphabets. A few Thai people can solve crisis that they face and they may not go to the court or the jail. That is why Karen youth should conserve their alphabets for helping the people who want to learn Karen language and Karen Alphabets for helping Karen people who are lack of the education.

For example, Karen youth can find the connection or friends through Karen traditional weaving and Karen alphabets because many people who are the foreigners or Thai people like Karen traditions. It is the most important thing. If Karen youth know how to develop their culture and their traditions to the best, they can conserve their original traditional and it will not be lost. Those are the reasons why Karen youth should conserve their original traditions and protect them.