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Image ID# 7141
Purchase A License To Use This Image Buy A Print Or Product Featuring This ImageTribal women who still wear neck rings can be found in Myanmar, Thailand and even Vietnam. This woman of the Hmong Tribe was photographed in a remote village in Burma now known as Myanmar. The rings weigh around 35 pounds and are actually one continuous spiral or sometimes two, rather than fused rings. The weight of the rings compress the collar bones leaving the impression of a very long neck.
In the village where we photographed this tribal woman with neck rings we met a woman who had sold her rings to a tourist. She said without her rings she felt "free as a bird". Apparently it does take several weeks without the rings before the neck muscles regain full strength. Each village has a person who is the expert at putting the rings on and taking them off. The wearing of the neck rings is a custom that is dying out...particularly as enterprising villagers offer significant money to buy the rings, then sell them at a profit to tourists. Often women wearing the rings are paid to be tourist attractions as well.
Different neighboring tribes have different customs. Some wear the neck rings along with leg and arm bracelets, some just wear the bracelets. Their clothing tends to be well decorated and colorful as well. Medical attention is scarce. In almost every village we visited there had been a recent death from a variety of ills that would not have been fatal in western nations.
,all,adults,Adventure,adventurous,,ethnic,face,faces,lifestyle,lifestyles,people,woman,women,,women,journey,trip,International,,Portraits,Global Communication,communications,s,global communication,,Senior,Seniors,elderly,Pix,image,photo,picture,images,pics,photos,pic,photograph,photographs,Neck Rings,Tribal,Hmong,Burma,Myanmar7141,stocksysamp,,Burmese-Woman-Neck-Rings-.jpg