page_title: Lahu people
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Lahu people / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Lahu woman in traditional clothes, sitting on the ground next to a fire and a sleeping dog. Original caption: The w:Lahu hill tribes of Thailand are also refugees from nearby Myanmar. The women wear large metal tubes through their earlobes.
context_page_description: The Lahu people are an ethnic group of China and Mainland Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: The traditional Lahu religion is polytheistic. Buddhism was introduced in the late 17th century and became widespread. Many Lahu people in China are Buddhists. Christianity became established in Burma in the 19th century and has been spreading since.
  The Lahu of Northeastern Thailand had encounters with Theravada Buddhist forest monks (tudong monks) around the years 1930–1940. The leader of such a group of monks, Mun Bhuridatta, spent some time in Lahu territory. These Lahu asked him for a "gatha that would protect them from ghosts and demons."
caption: An elderly Lahu woman at a refugee camp in Thailand
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