When disease strikes an Akha, worried relatives will call a shaman to fix supernatural vexations, often with opium, bloodletting or other traditional methods, amid cryptic prayers to the families' spirit clan, and to the shaman's more masterful, paranormal forces. Akhas are identifiable by the clothing and jewelry the tribes' women wear. Elaborate headdresses, of silver coins and half-globes, are fashioned onto a conical hat, which is sprinkled with white and red buttons and beads. Some women attach a strip of monkey fur or chicken feathers. Except when sleeping, women must wear their hats at all times.
Premenstrual girls get a simple cloth cap decked with a yarn pom-pom.
Cowrie shells, and old coins from Burma bearing a mythical lion, are also among Akha women's favorite jewelry. Like many of the region's tribes, Akhas also use geometric designs, stars, waves and elaborate mazes as decoration for spiritual items, and on embroidered clothing. Akhas are also famed for the big swing which they love to hoist in front of each village. An amusing ride, especially during the Swing Festival which heralds the Akha New Year, the swing is comprised of four tall saplings, jammed into the earth in a square. The saplings' tops are lashed together to form an arch.