Amazing women are the giraffes of the Padaung tribe.
Our planet is inhabited by many nationalities, tribes, speaking different languages, having their own traditions, national customs and customs. The amazing people of the Karen group of the Padaung tribe live in Myanmar and Northern Thailand.
This small tribe, numbering more than 50 thousand people, lives in high-mountain villages. They build their huts from palm leaves and place them on the ground, not on stilts. They farm, grow rice, breed bulls, buffaloes, elephants, men work as elephant drivers, women do household chores, make souvenirs for tourists.
What is so surprising about this tribe? Women of the Padaung tribe are called giraffe women, because they have very long necks.
This people has an unusual national custom - "stretching the neck."The long neck is considered a sign of beauty and well-being.
Beginning at the age of five, the girls are put around the neck copper rings, about a centimeter thick, gradually adding a number of rings. When a girl marries, the build-up of rings stops. An adult woman has up to two dozen rings, which can weigh about five kilograms.
It used to be that the rings extend the cervical joints, although in fact the shoulder zone is deformed, because under the weight of the rings the shoulder belt is gradually lowered, and there are no changes in the neck itself. There is an opinion that if you remove the rings, the neck may break, this opinion is not true. Women can take off rings and put on again. If you refuse to wear rings, then the neck is restored within a year or three years.
Also women of Padaung wear rings on their hands and legs. The giraffe costume consists of a long white blouse without a collar, with a front buckle and a knee-length skirt. Nowadays, the long necks of women attract tourists and provide an opportunity to earn money.
Women giraffes are a kind of business, for example: the largest village of Nai-Soy annually hosts 1200 tourists who pay 250 baht per entry( one baht is about one ruble).Women dressed in ethnic costumes depict the life of their tribe, they take pictures with pleasure, sell souvenirs.