_1.jpg)
Size : 1 cm (Height) x 9 cm (Width)
Lanna magic knife for healing. Lanna healer's knives called a "mithaek" or "mitmor" for healing a sick or spirit possessed person.
Lanna Sastra Akhom
Lanna sacred weapons are Sastra Akhom from part of the war history of various ethnic groups. Their role nowadays has changed from fighting to providing protection to the country to being ritual elements to remind the people of their value. Small knives or mitnoi or pra, according to the Tai Yong of Lamphun, like pradap (sword), prato (cleaver), prawaeng, pranoi and prapraisaeo (pointed knife) could be used as a weapon. Chiang Mai people have the word liam to mean pointed instead. There are also other types of knives such as mitnep (that can be tucked into the waistband of trousers), mitnum and mitsui.
Mitnoi or Pranoi
Mitnoi or pranoi refers simply to small knives of about six inches in length and mostly with a pointed tip to be carried by tucking them at the belly or waistband. The longer one, mitsok, is about the length from the elbow to the fingertips; it can be used for kitchen work or carried in a shoulder bag or tucked in the back suspended by a string when riding on an elephant or a buffalo or when climbing a tree. Its sheath and handle can be decorated more elaborately than kitchen knife.
A knife whose handle is made of ivory and kept in a silver sheath is kept as a collector's item and is hardly used in daily activities. It is polished and coated with oil so that it will survive better. This type of knife came from Shan State; so it is an imported item or one made by a foreigner not the local Tai Yuan people.
Antique traders around the border confirmed that these knives were brought by the Tai Yai from Myanmar long ago. The knives with ivory handles and silver sheaths from Shan State belonged to the well-to-do people. Only a few commoners could afford to have them specially from carved ivory or animal teeth. Besides being useful as decorative items, they were also used by medicine men/ shamans for healing certain diseases and for ritual performances.
The ivory handle and the silver sheaths are hard to repair so it is difficult to find one in perfect condition. The iron or ore used to make the knives was of a high quality found in Mueang Nong and Mueang Ton in Shan State. Cattle traders brought them along to sell. During the period when antiques became popular and in high demand, the Tai Yai antique agents would go around every village and bring out swords, knives, tube skirts, baskets, etc., so all kinds of antiques were left in stacks around Chiang Mai, Mai Sai and Mae Sot, and some found their way to Chatuchak Market in Bangkok 4-5 years ago. A nice looking knife could earn over a thousand Thai Baht and now it can fetch as much as ten thousand Baht.
*Mit Haek
Mit Haek is a small knife. The word haek in Lanna culture means to scrape or rub. Mit Haek is inscribed with incantations to heal diseases or ward off evil spirits, like mitmor. Several Lanna scholars and experts have stated that they were made from a special quality metal. The blade is not sharp and the tip is not pointed. They could also be made of the tooth of a tiger or a boar as well as ivory, albino buffalo horns, gaur horns, shells or even wood shaped like a knife or just a plain tooth or ivory itself.
