Each ethnic group has a unique range of styles and colours particular to it. Great time, pride and imagination are exercised in the production of clothes and jewellery. They are  an expression of status, pride and art.  Many women still wear traditional costume, but the men and children are adopting western shorts, jeans and T-shirts for everyday wear.

Most articles are produced within each family. Women spin cloth and make their clothes, whilst men make tools and weapons. Specialist blacksmiths and silversmiths have high status within the community, and may attract business from other villages many kilometres away.

Jewellery is commonly made from silver, most melted down from Indian and Burmese silver coins. Brass, copper and aluminium are also used. The jewellery amassed by a family are the outward display of their wealth, worn by the women at the New Year festival.

The “hilltribes” believe in these spirits most profoundly - they are as real as the physical, visible world. There are spirits in such things as rocks, trees and rivers, which have power to bring great good or harm. Ancestor spirits are cared for by the family or village. For this reason, every village will have a shaman, who can communicate with the spirits and ensure the correct actions at all times.

Death rates have been falling over the last thirty years, with improvements in health care and education, so that the natural growth rate of hill tribe populations, even excluding immigration, is very rapid. Because of the dangers, pregnancy and childbirth are surrounded by taboo and ritual. The women give birth, usually assisted by a female relative or specialized local  midwife. The baby is not considered a ‘human’ being for several days after its birth - the several souls within the body take this time to enter the new-born. The mother’s behaviour before and during childbirth is carefully watched. To die giving birth is a “bad death”, leading to a high risk of the dead mothers spirit returning to haunt the village.