Rom Tong Karen Pwo

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to study the history, lifestyle, tradition, and culture of Karen Pwo tribe of Kong Mong Ta village and to analyze the components and the dancing postures of Tong Phu Hyong He dance from Kong Mong Ta village, Kanchanaburi province. This is the qualitative research that the information was collected by studying the documents, books, related research articles, and interviewing the experts The research found that Pwo Karen people of Kong Mong Ta village migrated from Myanmar through Three Pagodas Pass and settled down at Kong Mong Ta village. They have the simple lifestyle according to their tradition and ritual belief. The tradition and the ritual, that are about folk shows, are called Rum Tong. From analyzing the components and postures of Tong Phu Hyong He dance, it found that Tong Phu Hyong dance consists of three parts; first part is Wai Kru, and second and third part is the performance.There are melody and songs in Karen language for fifteen songs. The folk shows are the group-based performance which reflects the unity. The dancing postures use various parts of body: shoulder, head, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Tong Phu Hyong He dance has seven dancing postures based on Rum Mae Bod Kariang Pwo. The dance has the transition postures that indicate the beginning and the end of the dancing which is beautiful and unique in the way of Pwo Karen people of Kong Mong Ta village.