Lisu Hilltribe

The Lisu have a legend quite similar to that of many other tribes in Southeast Asia. Long ago there was a giant flood.  There were only two survivors: one man and one woman. These two were brother and sister. They survived by living off the meat inside a giant bottle gourd. Once the water had receded, the pair set out in search of other survivors, but to their dismay, they found no one. They became convinced they must be the last remaining man and woman in the world. They realized that if they did not reproduce then mankind would disappear off the face of the planet forever. Still, they couldn't get over the fact they were brother and sister. Finally, they decided to to consult the spirits. Seeing a grinding stone and a mortar on top of a hill, the pair determined to separate the two parts and roll them down opposite sides of the hill.

When the grinding stone reached the base of the hill it refused to stop rolling. Instead, it persisted in rolling all the way around to the other side of the hill and reuniting with the mortar, ending up in exactly the same position it had been when on top of the hill. It did not matter what objects the pair used to test their fate, the results were identical each time. The older brother and younger sister agreed that God must have given his blessing to the union. Soon they had produced a son and a daughter which marked the new birth of the tribe.

The Lisu women are distinguished by their brightly coloured tunics, worn over long pants; some of the older generation continue to wear tasselled turbans on their heads. Occupying villages above 1,000m, they keep livestock and cultivate corn and vegetables. Unlike other hilltribes, they don't usually live in stilted houses. The Lisu men and women are also recognised as some of the most physically attractive of the hilltribes and marriage outside of their tribe is not uncommon.