The objective of this paper is to note the characteristics of pig husbandry practiced by the Hmong people, and the changes therein, based on a case study of a hillside village in northern Thailand. The village that was studied is located in Nan Province. As of 2005, it consisted of 80 households with a total population of 632. The villagers subsist on swidden (i.e., slash-and-burn) agriculture, cultivating upland rice for consumption and selling maize. They believe in the Hmong version of animism, conducting Hmong rituals that focus on ceremonies for ancestor worship, curing, New Year's, marriages and funerals. Ancestor worship and curing ceremonies are usually conducted by a shaman. Ancestor worship is an annual event, whereas curing ceremonies are conducted as needed. Among the Hmong, almost all households keep at least a few pigs each of the native-bred variety with black coats, called npua dub. They do not, however, keep improved breeds such as the white-coated npua dawb. The results of the case study were as follows. Firstly, regarding the pig husbandry environment, villagers keep pigs in pigsties. However, pigs can sometimes be observed walking around the village during the day. That shows that they keep pigs in conditions that could be referred to as "semi-confined" rather than "thoroughly confined." After having settled for more than 25 years, it seems that, as a result of the impact of sedentarization, the pig husbandry environment of the Hmong has changed from that of "free-range" to "confined." Secondly, regarding techniques used for pig keeping, villagers use self-sufficient feedstuffs consisting of natural plants (e.g., banana leaves and stems) and agricultural products (e.g., maize grain and rice bran) from the local area, and do not use any feed purchased from the city. Thus, it seems the number of pigs they can keep is regulated by the number of family members that can contribute to collecting natural plants from the field every day. Thirdly, concerning pig consumption, villagers keep a few pigs in each household and slaughter them mainly for ritual events, particularly for annual ancestor worship and New Year's ceremonies. Christian households ceased carrying out ancestor worship conducted by shamans; nevertheless, they still keep and slaughter pigs for annual New Year's and Christmas ceremonies. It seems that changes appeared in the way that pigs are consumed, not only because of new events related to pig consumption (such as Christmas and celebrating children's advances to the next school grade), but also due to new types of pig being available for consumption, such as the improved npua dawb breed. It can be concluded that in the first decade of the new millennium, the pig husbandry activities of the Hmong in the hillside villages of northern Thailand continued to be based on feed using natural resources. However, as a result of the impact of sedentarization, the husbandry environment became more "confined." Consumption methods also changed with the diversification of the kind of pigs consumed, as well as the occasions in which they are consumed, due to the impact of modernization.
