Phu Thai (ผู้ไท, ภูไท, ผู้ไทย)

Thai. ‘Mountain-people’. Name of an ethnic group and their language. In Thailand, they number about 150,000 and can be found mainly in the area of eastern Isaan, towards the Laotian border, including places such as Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, Kalasin and as far South as Ubon Ratchathani. They also live in some Laotian provinces of Laos, from where they originate and where they total an approximate equal number, as well as in northern areas of Vietnam, where their number is just over 200,000. The traditional dress is dark indigo, almost black in colour (fig.). The women wear a  short jacket, with colourful embroidery on the outer edges, and a long tubular skirt with a bluish to white pattern, as well as a silver belt, necklace and single wristlet. On the head they have a small colourful scarf, with fringes at the front. The men also wear a short jacket, but with silver embroidery on the outer edges and pockets, and long indigo-blackish trousers, and whereas men wear a kind of pahkaomah around the waist, women typically wear a similar piece of cloth over the shoulder. The Phu Thai people are closely related to the Thai Phuan, Tai Nyo and Lao Nuea. After the fall of Chao Anou, also known as Chao Anouvong/Anuwong (ເຈົ້າອານຸວົງສ໌/เจ้าอนุวงศ์), the last monarch of the Lao Kingdom of Vientiane, and the consequent complete destruction of the capital in 1828 AD, the Phu Thai were relocated by Siamese troops, forced to migrate from the eastern side of the Mekhong River in Laos, to the western side of the river, in present-day northeastern Thailand. 回