During the growing season of wet-rice, that is, roughly from July through September, the only agricultural task that needs to be performed in wet-rice terraces is weeding. Although the Palokhi Karen have their own term for “weed”, as we have seen, the weeds that grow on the bunds and dikes of wet-rice terraces are referred to by their Northern Thai name, khaa naa. The process of weeding is called “hoeing weeds” (pla’ kha na) and it describes how the weeds are removed. As in swiddening, this is done sporadically because it conflicts with tasks that need to be performed in swiddens, namely, weeding and the collection of cultigens. During this time, the stocks of rice in Palokhi begin to run out, if they have not been exhausted already, and the Karen therefore have to seek employment in Northern Thai villages so that they can buy rice with the wages that they earn. It is also a period when tea buyers and miang merchants come around Ban Mae Lao to buy tea leaves, and the Palokhi Karen also take this opportunity to earn money by picking tea in their own tea gardens, or those of the Northern Thai, in order to obtain money as well.

The weeding season in the wet-rice cycle is also the time when a rite to protect the rice in the wet-rice fields has to be performed. This practice is clearly derived from the cycle of agricultural rites associated with swidden cultivation. The name of this rite, in wet-rice fields, is called bghau chi’ after the bghau hy’ ritual in swiddens which I discuss in Chapter VI.