As I describe, in some detail, the Head Rite and its key features in the next section of this chapter, I shall therefore consider first the question of succession, and its implications for the continuity of the ritual relationships between headman, community, and the Lord of the Water, Lord of the Land in Palokhi.

In Palokhi, Tamu’ is now regarded as the headman of Palokhi and, as one of the original founders of the village at its present site, he continues to perform the Head Rite which he first performed in 1964 with Thi Pghe and Chwi’. When Thi Pghe died in 1978, his eldest son Chi Choe (then sixteen years old) was required to participate in the rite in Thi Pghe’s place. Chwi’, on the other hand, who had migrated to Huai Dua in 1974, returned to Palokhi each year to perform the rite until his death in 1980. Tamu”s only son, Nae’ Kha, was also included in the ritual when he returned to Palokhi after a few years of residence in Huai Dua where he went to marry. Nae’ Kha’s return was dictated by, amongst other considerations, the expectation that he would succeed Tamu’ as headman in Palokhi. It is worth noting that Chwi’ had a one year old son in Huai Dua (where he went to marry again) at the time of his death, but the son — quite apart from his age — was not considered to have any rights or responsibilities to the performance of the Head Rite because he was born in Huai Dua and not Palokhi.

Although there are two issues involved in the question of succession (succession to headmanship and succession to participation in the Head Rite), the rule is the same in both cases, namely, affiliation through the male line and primogeniture. This kind of succession to headmanship (or office of “village priest”) in Karen communities is a well-established ethnographic fact noted by Hinton (1975:41–2), Kunstadter (1979:130), Mischung (1980:33) and Madha (1980:61). Palokhi is, therefore, no exception in this regard. On the other hand, the importance of co-founders in association with headmen, thus far, has not been reported in existing accounts of the Karen. Nonetheless, the general principle of succession whether it be to headmanship or participation in the Head Rite is clear. However, insufficient attention has been given to the importance of the idea of continuity of ritual relationships entailed by this rule of succession.

Expressed more generally, there are two considerations involved here: succession on the basis of genealogical relationships, and the symbolic significance attached to these relationships and/or succession.

It is clear that the cognatic kinship systems of Sgaw and Pwo Karen societies do not preclude certain forms of social organisation (constituted for ritual purposes) whose principle of recruitment is based on maternal affiliation or, in some instances, what may be regarded as matrilineal descent properly known. On the other hand, succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite is based on affiliation through the male line. Except for the “matrilineal cults” of the Sgaw and Pwo Karen which I have briefly reviewed elsewhere (1984; see also Cohen and Wijeyewardene [1984a:252]), I hesitate to use the terms “matrilineal” and “patrilineal” in describing these principles of recruitment and succession (in the context of Palokhi) although Hinton and Madha have, in fact, used the term “patrilineal” with regard to succession to headmanship. The reason is that the construct “descent” is implicated in the use of these terms which, in my view, is not justified by the data from Palokhi. As Cohen and Wijeyewardene point out in their general introduction to the volume Spirit Cults and the Position of Women in Northern Thailand (1984), the application of the term “matrilineal” necessarily implies, according to traditional anthropological usage which restricts “descent” to a minimal three-generation span, at least recognition of a line of predecessors traceable to a common apical ancestress, and some ideology of matriliny. The same conditions would, of course, apply to the term “patrilineal” as well. In the absence of such recognition and ideology, only successive affiliation may be said to exist.

In Palokhi neither of these conditions apply to the domestic ritual called ‘au’ ma xae (see Appendix A) which, though similar in several respects to the matrilineal spirit cults found in some Sgaw and Pwo communities, differs from these cults on these very grounds. Nor do these conditions apply to succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite. Hence, my use of the term “affiliation”. I might add, in this connection, that individual genealogies in Palokhi are very frequently shallow with a maximum range of three ascending generations (see next chapter). This and the fact that descent is never traced to an apical ancestor or ancestress, as well as the absence of any discernible unilineal ideology, make the use of the neutral term “affiliation” (qualified appropriately) necessary if a better understanding of social arrangements in Palokhi is to be gained. As I discuss kinship and the domestic ritual ‘au’ ma xae, more fully in the following chapter and Appendix A, I shall therefore now consider the question of succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite according to these two principles of affiliation and the notion of continuity in ritual relationships as they are to be found in Palokhi.

Succession to any office or role is a matter of considerable importance in most societies and where this is effected by genealogical principles, as distinct from other means, there are only two fundamentally logical alternatives for doing so, namely, through patrilineal or matrilineal principles — or, in Palokhi, by affiliation through males or females as I prefer to call it. There may also exist variations of these principles where there is some other contingent factor such as residence which acts to modify them which is not uncommon in the case of cognatic systems. The view that I take of these principles or, more generally, of cognatic kinship, in approaching the various aspects of social organisation in Palokhi is that they do not necessarily operate independently in determining the particular configurations that characterise various forms of social organisation in Palokhi. More specifically, the view that I take is that these configurations are the result of the application of genealogical reckonings guided by non-genealogical considerations, that is, by ideological considerations (as defined before) and the attribution of particular meanings to kinship relationships. In Palokhi, one such range of meanings is that which is attached to one of the more important aspects, if not the most important aspect, of kinship: sexual difference.

Thus, in the case of Palokhi, succession to headmanship and participation in the performance of the Head Rite, pose two different, but related, questions: why succession and why male succession? The answer to the more general question of succession, in Palokhi, has to do with the idea of continuity of ritual relationships, as I have already suggested, which informs most matters of ritual significance or religious importance of which the association between the headman, the community and the tutelary spirit of the domain is but one. The evidence for this lies, therefore, in the general characteristics of ritual performances and religious beliefs in Palokhi rather than the succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite (as well as its annual performance) alone.

The concern for continuity is evident more widely in the “connecting up of generations” in a variety of ritual contexts. For example, in the domestic ritual of ‘au’ ma xae, the Palokhi Karen are concerned with the maintenance of generational lines in the pigs and chickens that are consumed in this ritual. Furthermore, they say that all ‘au’ ma xae rituals must be conducted in the same way in their details as when it was first conducted by a married couple. Continuity is also to be found in the cultivation of a special crop of rice, called the “Old Mother Rice” (By Mo Pgha) which is grown successively in each agricultural season for ritual purposes from its own seed (see Chapter VI).

Taken together, the undoubted concern with establishing continuity of ritual relationships in one form or another in these various ritual practices, including the succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite, indicate that continuity is an important aspect of the religious conceptions of the Palokhi Karen. It is significant, however, that it is expressed primarily in generational terms. The implication of this is that succession or continuity is conceived of as a process of affiliation, or association, through successive steps of biological reproduction rather than strict genealogical lineality. However, when the matter is brought to their attention, the Palokhi Karen are of course quite able to see that this can be represented as a “line”. The important point to note, nevertheless, is that they do not have cultural categories for “lineage”, “descent” (or “descent group”) or, for that matter, “line” applied specifically in a genealogical context. This is strong evidence for the absence of any concept of genealogical lineality as such.

Male succession, on the other hand, has to do with a more general characteristic of ritual activities in Palokhi: the domination of men in the ritual life of the community. It is also related to the fact that despite the minimal sexual division of labour in agricultural activities, men are the decision-makers. Indeed, as I show in Chapter V, they are essential as managers of land, which is by no means irrelevant to ritual matters; an important part of the “management” of land in fact entails the performance of a series of agricultural rituals throughout the year which constitutes the annual ritual cycle in Palokhi. The dominance of men in the ritual life of the community is, thus, intimately linked with agricultural cultivation or, more generally, with the use of land within the kau. Male succession to headmanship and participation in the Head Rite, therefore, are part of a complex of conceptual associations or ideas which link men, land, agriculture and ritual activities together.