Karen Student Association holds traditional wrist tying ceremony at Chiang Mai University

What happened

DVB English reports that the Karen Student Association at Chiang Mai University (CMU) hosted the traditional Karen Wrist Tying Ceremony at the Faculty of Social Sciences on Saturday, bringing together Karen students, community members, and local Chiang Mai residents.

The ceremony, known in the Sgaw Karen dialect as Lakukisu, is an ancient ritual intended to recall wandering spirits, ward off illness, and promote participants' health, protection, and prosperity through the tying of white cotton threads by elders and symbolic offerings.

Student organizers emphasized the importance of creating dedicated cultural spaces within universities, especially for displaced youth and students, to maintain connections to their ancestral customs despite ongoing instability in their home regions.

Known from the source

• The Karen Student Association at Chiang Mai University hosted a traditional wrist tying ceremony.
• The event took place at the Faculty of Social Sciences on a Saturday.
• The ceremony is an ancient Karen tradition called Lakukisu involving white thread tying to promote health and protection.
• The event included Karen students, community members, and local residents from Chiang Mai.
• Student organizers stressed the need for cultural spaces for displaced Karen youth to connect with ancestral customs.

What remains unclear

According to Hal J, a student organizer, the wrist tying custom is believed to confer physical health and safety, and the association encourages public participation in future cultural events to promote wider understanding of Karen traditions.

What remains unclear: Exact date of the ceremony. Number of participants and attendees. Any connection or statements relating the ceremony to the situation in Myanmar beyond cultural preservation. Ensure proper attribution to DVB English as the source.

Evidence note

Outside Brief has treated the source material as confirmed within the supplied source context, while retaining attribution to the original publisher.

Original source: DVB English. Open the source.