Origins and Philosophy of the Concept
The Karen (K’nyaw) concept of Ta Madok Maka embodies a praxis of reciprocity, mutual respect, and interconnected wellbeing not just with fellow human beings but also with nature and the spirit world. Ta Madok Maka which can be translated as “I help you, you help me” is an integral part of Karen communities’ life philosophy and cultural belief. In a world marked by unprecedented global catastrophes of climate crisis, ecological degradation, socio-economic inequality, political repression, wars, hyper-consumerism, and extractive development fuelled by colonial-capitalist systems, Indigenous K’nyaw concepts such as Ta Madok Maka can offer much needed respite and liberatory alternative towards praxis of mutual aid and co-existence.
For Indigenous Karen people, Ta Madok Maka is the philosophical concept based on the moral principle and obligation of reciprocity. It encompasses Karen peoples’ belief systems, practices, and cultural values of collective wellbeing. The concept of Ta Madok Maka is deeply embedded in Indigenous Karen peoples’ way of life, customary institutions, cultural ceremonies, and livelihood practices. It is the cultural manifestation of mutual respect and support, solidarity, social cohesion, and an expression of empathy and care towards each other’s wellbeing. It has been conceptualized, evolved, and practiced since our ancestral times.
The concept of Ta Madok Maka extends beyond reciprocal relationship between human to human. It is centered in our Indigenous Karen’s ontology of co-existence with nature through having a balanced and harmonious relationship with sacred lands, waters, forests, mountains, and wildlife. There are several other Karen concepts that go hand in hand to complement and uphold the principle of Ta Madok Maka. For example, the Karen’s ancestral adage “if you take good care of nature, nature will take care of you” is the core concept that promotes reciprocal relationship between humans and Nature. Ta Madok Maka, the Karen’s concept of reciprocity, is reinforced by the community value of Ta Kwamoo Kwakheh Hlotha. This literally means “caring for each other for collective survival, wellbeing, and progress”, a vital community support system in times of crisis. The praxis of Ta Madok Maka can be expressed in various aspects of life, including family hospitality, social events, cultural ceremonies and festivals, agricultural activities, environmental stewardship, and territorial governance. The following are a couple of examples to embody the concept of Ta Madok Maka in the Indigenous Karen people’s real-life situations.
Reciprocity in traditional livelihoods
Ku traditional rotational farming is one of the primary livelihoods of Karen people in Kawthoolei (Karen homeland) of Burma/Myanmar. The Ku rotational farming can serve as an example that illustrates the critical role of Ta Madok Maka (reciprocity and mutual aid). For Indigenous Karen, Ku rotational farming practice plays multiple roles and provides many benefits: native seeds bank, biocultural knowledge repositories and transmission, intergenerational learning space, agroforestry, community solidarity, and restorative ecological services through the regenerative farming processes, and climate change mitigation.
The community value of Ta Madok Maka (reciprocity and mutual aid) in rotational farming takes place throughout the agricultural season, starting from February to December. Families of Indigenous Karen community take turn to help each other in preparing the cultivated land (e.g., clearing, drying, burning, and making firebreak), building shelters, planting rice and other crops, clearing weeds, performing Thet Ku (offering sacrificial feast to the guardian of the land spirit) and Lar Ku Ki Sue wrist-tying ceremony (as explained below), harvesting, and eventually performing of a ritual ceremony of Ta Ther Htaw Hto that involves showing gratitude to Hto Bee Ghar (Asian fairy-bluebird) of the rice spirit for the blessing of crops productivity.
In our Karen culture, youth are the fabric of Kaw customary land governance system. Traditionally, under the Kaw governance system, we have 30 male and 30 female youth who collaboratively undertake a shared labor in the community to ensure that everyone will thrive and survive together. They voluntarily offer services through farming, building houses, weaving traditional handicrafts, engaging in territorial governance through Kaw boundary walking, and supporting other social and cultural ceremonies. This signifies the important role of K’nyaw Indigenous youth in deepening intergenerational bonds through a community support system of shared labor. It’s a cultural system that sustains the ancestors’ guidance of “everyone should be caring about everyone else’s wellbeing” for collective survival and wellbeing.
Reciprocity in cultural ceremonies
Lar Ku Ki Sue, a phrase that can be translated as “traditional wrist-tying in the lunar month of August”, is another instance to exemplify the praxis of reciprocity. It is a unique cultural ceremony that signifies social relations and ceremonial obligation with spiritual entities. For our Indigenous elders, the month of Lar Ku/August is observed as a dangerous month for natural disasters that could cause spiritual and physical harm to communities. Lar Ku Ki Sue is the spiritual ceremony to call back spirits of family members to be reunited with their souls and ward off evil spirits. Ta Madok Maka of reciprocity can be observed throughout the ritual ceremony of Lar Ku Ki Sue. Families of the community help and support each other in different tasks, including collection of broom grasses for wrapping May Taw (wrapped sticky rice), slaughtering of a pig for the community feast, cooking traditional pork porridge, making local rice whiskey, preparing cultural materials for the ceremony (e.g., white cotton thread, betel quid, traditional woven basket, bamboo ladle, forged hooked blade). Lar Ku Ki Sue isn’t simply a part of the traditional ceremony for spiritual bonds and wellbeing; it embodies cultural symbols of social cohesion, intergenerational reciprocity and solidarity, traditional knowledge transmission, and reconnection with ancestral lands.
Reciprocal relationship with spiritual territory
In Indigenous Karen’s territorial governance and environmental stewardship, we include sacred sites such as Day Por Htu (umbilical cord forests), Loe Hti (spiritual gravesite), and Htee Meh K’lar (water mirror) and we foster a reciprocal and respectful relationship with the more-than-human guardian spirits. These practices enable Indigenous Karen to intergenerationally preserve and sustain their biocultural knowledge, wisdom, and belief systems of environmental governance and management. To exemplify Karen’s understanding of reciprocal relationship with their spiritual territory, Day Por Htu (umbilical cord forest) and Htee Meh K’lar (water mirror) will be further elaborated here. Day Por Htu (umbilical cord forest) also known as the spirit forest characterizes a distinctive spiritual relationship between Indigenous Karen and their forests. Protection of the spirit forest begins with the Tardu (traditional taboos) on selection of tree species to tie a newborn’s umbilical cord. Thay Ter May (Black Plum-Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels) is one of the types of tree species used because of its smoothness and straightness. Spiritually, it’s believed that tying a baby’s umbilical cord on a burled tree would cause a newborn to suffer from a knotted umbilical cord or other illnesses. Part of the traditional taboo is a strict prohibition of cutting down and harming these trees and surrounding forested areas.
Additionally, the reciprocal relations with the water-based spirit site of Htee Meh K’lar is another important example. Htee Meh K’lar, which can be translated as “the mirror water”, is a spring-fed pool with no outflow where Indigenous Karen maintain their sacred relationship with the guardian of the water spirit called Nar Htee. There is a set of Indigenous Tardu that prohibits the harming and destruction of this area including prohibitions against insulting, cutting, defecating, urinating, stamping, throwing sharp objects, clearing, and scattering chili and salt into the pool. It is believed that violation of these traditional rules and taboos will result in physical illness and suffering. A seasonal spring pool gives multiple benefits to both local communities for their daily use and consumption of water for drinking, for cooking, cleansing, and agricultural activities, as well as to the birds, wildlife animals and interconnected ecosystems. Therefore, enriching reciprocal relationships with these spiritual territories highlights the importance of Indigenous knowledge and belief systems in environmental governance and stewardship, which have positive and mutual benefits for both human and nature.
However, the intergenerational injustice that Indigenous Karen people have endured under the colonial-imperialist powers and capitalist development continue to have long-lasting damaging impacts. Moreover, the repressive military regime of Burma/Myanmar’s continuation of colonial and capitalist legacy for almost eight decades through the imposition of discriminatory laws and policies and state land grabs and displacements have significant impacts on the gradual erosion and/or loss of our cultural identity, value systems and practices, including Ta Madok Maka. This undermines our traditional knowledge and Kaw ancestral territorial governance system and environmental stewardship practices. We cannot allow these repressive and exploitative systems of military dictatorship and colonial-capitalist system to continue to dispossess us of our ancestral territory, plunder our natural resources, and erode our cultural spirits any longer. Reclaiming our territorial rights for autonomous governance systems will help us to revitalize the praxis of Ta Madok Maka for a social system grounded on cooperation, reciprocity, mutual aid and altruism, instead of competition and greed. Ancestral Indigenous practice and systems like Ta Madok Maka that promote mutual aid and interconnected wellbeing cannot be replaced with monetary value. Reviving practices like Ta Madok Maka can be an emancipatory tool to reclaim our cultural value and identity and free ourselves from the destructive legacies of cultural imperialism/colonialism and capitalism. The Karen concept of Ta Madok Maka bears strong similarity to other Indigenous and non-Western concepts of reciprocity, mutual aid, and interconnected wellbeing such as the South African concept of ubuntu, Anishinaabe’s concept of Mino-bimaadiziwin, Quechua concept of ayni, and many more. We believe that Indigenous concepts and practices of reciprocity such as Ta Madok Maka can inspire the world to envision and promote a just, equitable, peaceful, and sustainable future.
Caption: Through the praxis of Ta Madok Maka, students of The Noo Hseh Lah (Cultural School) in the Salween Peace Park helping local communities in rice cultivation in their Ku upland rotational farms (Photo by Saw Mu Pleh Say)
Caption: The Thet Ku cultural icon, used in Indigenous Karen offering ceremony to honor the guardian of the land spirit for rice yield and productivity (photo by Saw Mort)
Caption: An elderly woman from Hkeh Pa in the Salween Peace Park performing tree ordination (Photo: Hsar Doe Doh Moo)
Suggested resources for further reading: KESAN. (2005). Diversity degraded: Vulnerability of cultural and natural diversity in northern Karen State, Burma. Accessed from https://kesan.asia/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/report_diversity-degraded-vulnerability-of-cultural-and-natural-diversity-english.pdf KESAN. (2019). Kaw policy briefer. Accessed https://kesan.asia/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Kaw-Policy-Briefer-KESAN-Eng-June-2019.pdf Andrew Paul. (2019). Kaw-the Indigenous Karen customary lands. Accessed https://kesan.asia/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Kaw-indigenous-Karen-Custumery-Land-briefer-English-May-2019.pdf KESAN & TTIP. (2022). We protect our Kaw, and our Kaw protects us: Reciprocity and resilience of Indigenous communities in the face of climate change and militarisation in Thawthi Taw Oo Indigenous Park. Wanida Press, Chiang Mai, Thailand. KESAN. (2024). Karen Indigenous community conserved territories. Accessed https://kesan.asia/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Karen-Indigenous-Territory-Briefer-English-version-web.pdf
Relevant short and featured documentary films Seeds of Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgXAgqL-4-U The role of taboos in Indigenous Karen wildlife conservation https://www.facebook.com/KarenEnvironment/videos/625015535427354 Kaw: Revitalizing our ancestral land, asserting self-determination https://www.facebook.com/KarenEnvironment/videos/5430854500260984