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== Christianity in Akha Villages == The Akha people migrated from Tibet to the mountainous region of Laos, China, Burma and Thailand. The Akha Villages traditionally practice Akhazah, which is a religious, as well as cultural belief system. Ahkazah is an animistic belief system with various rituals, festivals and spirits that permeate everyday life.〔()〕 Akhazah includes rules and rituals for marriage, lineage and ancestral offerings. The Akha spiritual leader, the Shaman, is responsible for planting the yearly rice seed, animal sacrifices and building the wooden spirit gate〔()〕〔()〕 The Catholic and American missionaries have infiltrated upon this traditional belief system by mass conversions of villages as opposed to individuals. Different branches of Christianity have divided Akha villages from each other and demolished traditional Akha culture. Christian missionaries converted the oral Akha language into a written Latin letter alphabet and produced an Akha language dictionary for villagers to use. The American Evangelical movement and American Baptist Movements were particularly strong in coercing conversion as these Akha villagers were some of the poorest in the world and missionaries offered villages the resources and services they desperately needed.〔()〕 Villages surrounded a village church but religion did not necessity a belief system. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, an anthropologist at Chiang Mai University, describes the conversion process,” They are assured education, scholarships and health services," he said. "It is these benefits and not religious passion that have attracted more hill-tribe people to convert." Chayan also says (this new religion ) "the shamans and the spirit and cultural leaders have no place", Chayan said. "The old, traditional knowledge that has been passed down to the community comes to an end." Because of the stigma in Akhazah against writing down the religious beliefs, many Akhazah traditions die out in Christian villages.〔()〕 In villages that have not been converted, the Akha people consider Akhazah religion as part of their identity but in converted villages the Akha people believe they are just as Akha without Akhazah traditions. There are a growing number of missionaries, especially from the United States over the last 40 years. They have succeeded in converting over half of the 320 Akha tribes in Northern Thailand and are far more effective in conversions in Akha villages in Thailand than in Burma.〔()〕 In Akha legend, all the people of the land, the Shan, the Thai, the Chinese and the Akha all were given zah by the creator. All the other villagers went the creator with a loosely woven basket to receive the zah, only the Akha went with a tightly woven one so everyone else's zah fell out while the Akha man made it home with all the pieces, which is why Akhazah is expansive and hard.〔()〕 The difficulty and extensiveness of the Akhazah is why it was originally so hard to win converts but also why westernization helped Christians convert the Ahka in the last few decades.〔()〕 In Ahka culture, actions are more important than words, as shown at sacrificial ceremonies where no chanter needs to be present. In Ahkazah spiritual government, the village leader does not need to know chants. This represents the lack of inclination towards written word. Other barriers missionaries faced in conversion of the Ahka include lack of messianic message and lack of desire for written word. When missionaries arrived in the area, the hmong and karen had old traditional stories of a "lost book". Christian missionaries were able to exploit this by proclaiming themselves as "foreign brothers" bringing back their golden book. Akha culture also has similar stories of a lost book, but there is no recovery prophecy like in the hmong and karen and therefore no "message from the messiah".〔()〕 Paul Lewis claimed Akha villagers did not have the same desire for literacy as the Hmong villagers, who mainly converted because of this thirst for literacy. In Akha legends, the creator handed an Akha a book written on buffalo skin but the man got hungry and ate it on his way home. Akha culture was characterized by the contentment of the current situation (not having a language ), and the belief that Ahka culture should be rather be preserved by memory since the words were eaten.〔()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Christianity in Ahka Villages」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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