Yong

The Yong descend from Lue people who lived in Muang Yong, in what is now Shan State in Myanmar. In the early nineteenth century, the rulers of Chiang Mai, determined to restore the north after decades of war with the Burmese, brought entire populations from that region to resettle the land. The largest wave arrived in 1805.

The first groups settled in Pasang District, in Lamphun, in a village called Ban Vieng Vong, which is still inhabited today. From there the Yong spread across the region, carrying their temples and traditions with them, and eventually became a central part of life in Lamphun, without forgetting the land they came from.

Yong life revolves around the village, the family and the temple. Most communities live from lowland farming, rice and small crops, and many families keep the craft of handmade weaving, passed from mothers to daughters and today valued as a mark of local identity. The home and the temple are the center of gatherings, shared meals and communal work.

The calendar is shaped by religious festivals tied to the temple, in which families express gratitude and the desire to accumulate merit. Respect for elders, hospitality and solidarity among neighbors are highly esteemed values, and pride in being Yong shows in their language, their clothing and their customs.

The Yong are Buddhists, and the temple is an inseparable part of community life. Making merit, offering food to the monks and taking part in the festivals of the Buddhist calendar are practices that bind each family to the community and to the ancestors.

This Buddhism coexists with an ancient belief in spirits. Many honor the spirits of the land, of ancestors and of places, and villages often make offerings at their own shrines throughout the year. For the people, being Yong and following these traditions go together, and so each person’s faith is rarely seen as a purely individual matter. Even so, as in every people, there are questions about life, death and the future that Buddhism and offerings cannot always answer.

The Yong’s access to the Scriptures in their own language is still very limited. As far as is known, there is no complete Bible or New Testament in the language, so most families do not have the whole Word in the language of the heart.

Those who speak Thai can turn to the Scriptures in that language, but hearing and reading the message in the language of the home makes a great difference. Audio materials and Bible portions are valuable paths, still little known among the villages.

For the Yong, being Buddhist and being Yong usually mean the same thing. The temples, the festivals and the ceremonies for the spirits sustain village life, and leaving these practices can be understood as turning away from family and people. Added to this are the near absence of Christian communities among them, the lack of a complete Bible translation in their language, and the fact that the gospel has almost never been presented to them clearly and within their culture.

The Yong need, above all, people who will get to know them, learn their language and present Jesus to them with respect for their culture. They need the whole Scripture in the language they speak at home, so that they can read it and hear it as a word addressed to them.

They also need a heart open to the gospel and families who believe in Jesus and can form healthy communities of faith, rooted in village life and able to multiply. Finally, they need constant prayer, because only God can open paths among a people so bound to their tradition.