Visitors walking into an Akha village might be surprised at the pair of wooden sculptures set up near the town door: a giant male and female body, facing each other in the act of making love. The town door, or gate, is a free-standing wooden structure set up just next to the sculptures. Under no circumstances should a visitor touch the gate! The gate is meant to keep evil spirits away from the village, and if disturbed, an elaborate and costly ceremony must be performed to reinstate the peace.

Another visible part of Akha culture is the Akha swing. The swing is made from four wooden poles supporting each other high in the air. A piece of rope hanging from the top is used to swing through the air. The use of the swing is reserved for special occasions such as the women's New Year Festival held in August or September.

The statues, gate and swing are all important parts of the “Akha Way,” the system of traditional Akha beliefs. Other parts of the Akha Way include the ancestral alter in each home, wooden spears made for the annual gate ceremony, the village water source, special village tree, and village burial grounds. These items and areas should never be touched by outsiders!

The Akha are considered a very strong people. They tend to be short and strongly-built. In Thailand, many Akha work in the rice fields. Some villages have their own fields while others work as hired labour. At certain times of the year it is not uncommon to see trucks, with 20 or more Akha people sitting in the back, racing home along the highway at the end of a long day harvesting.

Akha villages often have more than one name. Sometimes the Thai name reflects a physical characteristic in the area. In this case, the Akha put the word ‘Akha’ at the end of the name. At other times, the village is referred to by the headman, and the word ‘pu,’ meaning ‘village,’ is put at the end of the head man’s name.

There are over 100 Akha clans, each with slight differences in dress or even speech, though not all of these clans are represented in Thailand. Akha society is quite patriarchal, and women generally do not have any leadership role. The clan name is used as the family name in official papers.

Twins are considered very bad luck in Akha culture and in the past were killed soon after birth, although this practice is now rare.