Thai village life

In the Chaophraya River Basin the river and canals pass through forests, rice paddies and villages. The life of Thai people in olden times was simple and peaceful, closely tied to nature and waterways. In their way of life all the people's joys and sorrows, from birth to education, merit-making, ordination, marriage and funerals involved the Buddhist religion and centered around the temple, or wat.

In the harvest season the villagers gathered together to harvest everyone's fields from dawn to dusk. Hard work in the fields continued until the hot season, when the farmers had time for leisure activities and engaged in fun - filled merit - making ceremonies. When the rainy season began again the fields were once again wet and green. Rice seedlings grew, and the people's work of tilling and turning over the earth and transplanting the rice resumed.

The regular natural cycle of the seasons was reflected in the life of the people in this agricultural society. Ceremonies and beliefs about nature and Buddhism formed the basis of their lives.

Birth
In ancient times delivery and the care of infants was extremely difficult. Many babies died soon after birth. The people believed that ghosts or spirits took them away, so many rituals were devised to keep evil spirits away until the baby was one month old. On either the first of the third day the child was born the midwife would put the baby on a winnowing basket and throw it up gently three times. Then she would symbolically pass the winnowing basket with the baby on it to the child's maeseu, which is like a fairy godmother, and then place it with its mother. The mother would be encircled by a magic string to ward off ghosts.

The ritual of lying by the fire
After giving birth women were expected to lie near a fire to cleanse themselves from impurity and to recover. The fireplace was prepared by raking dirt on top of the firewood and then lighting the fire. The mother had to lie on a wooden bench in front of the fire. The area was encircled in magic string to scare off ghosts and protective emblems drawn on pieces of cloth were placed nearby. The mother had to stay in front of the fire for and odd number of days, at least seven. During that time she would use a heated ceramic pot full of salt placed on the abdomen to help reduce the size of the uterus. At the end of the appointed time the mother could resume her normal activities after making an offering to the spirits at the fireplace.

One month ceremony
When a child reached one month of age a "strength and encouragement" ceremony was held that was intended to insure the child would survive. The family would prepare an offering of rice and other foods wrapped in banana leaves and decorated with flowers. Another offering was candles and incense. Magic thread would be tied around. the baby's ankles and wrists and the parents or other family members would shave his or her head and anoint it with fragrant powder mixed with water. This was believed to protect the baby from ghosts.

Topknot cutting ceremony
The topknot cutting ceremony was a coming of age ceremony normally performed at 11 for girls and 13 for boys. It could be held either at home or at the temple. The day before the ceremony the parents would invite monks to pray at their home and host a party in the evening. The next morning the child would be dressed in white and a monk or Brahman priest would preside over the topknot cutting. He would divide the hair into three bunches and cut the first himself. The parents or other relatives would cut the other parts.

Education
In the old days children were educated at the temples. The parents would ask a monk whom they respected to teach their children. On the first day of class the students would present an offering of flowers, incense and betel nut to their teacher. They would study along with the novices in the temple's dining hall or prayer hall. They had blackboards for practicing writing. There was no ste curriculum and no class levels.

Rice planting
In the sixth lunar month, before the rains began, the women would plant rice seeds in nursery beds and the men would plow and rake the paddy fields. In the eighth month they would all transplant the seedlings. The twelfth month was the time of harvest, and all families in the village would join together to harvest the rice before taking it to drying yards at their homes or to a communal drying yard. After the rice was threshed it would be stored in raised storage areas at every home.

Entertainment
The variety anf frequency of folk entertainment is testimony to the Thai people's love of fun and amusement. The fun and festivities at every holiday celebration, and even at funerals, almost always included some kind of show, usually performed at night. The most popular forms of entertainment were shadow plays, musicals, Chinese opera, puppet shows, and circus - type acts. The people would bring their own snacks and sit or lie in the open in front of a temporary stage, chatting and enjoying the show, while the children would around playing nearby.

Thai Massage
The art and science of Thai massage has been developed since ancient times. It requires a detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology that was usually passed down within families. Existing massage manuals contain diagrams of the body showing muscles, blood vessels, and nerve endings critical in treatment.

Ancient Thai medicine
In ancient times illnesses or injuries were treated with folk methods including medicines and massage. The medicines were called "home remedies" consisting of herbal ingreadients such as roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits or seeds of certain plants including Zingiber casumunar long peper, candle bush, eagle wood, Blumea balsamifera and Rhinacanthus communis. Animal parts such as teeth, horns, gallbladder, and liver were also used, as well as minerals like camphor, potassium nitrate, and sulfur. Experts in traditional medicine kept their formulae secret so very little of the knowledge has been passed down to the modern era.

Epidemics
A calamity that struck from time to time was epidemics of cholera, small pox or other diseases. In some years epidemics were severe. Bodies would pile up at the temples and sometimes float down the rivers and streams. The people would have to leave their homes to try to flee.

Funerals
Funerals began with bathing rites for the body of the deceased, then placing it in the coffin, and having prayers read for at least three days. Then the body would be cremated at the temple or in the woods outside the village. The pyre could be decorated with carved banana stalks, The family members would light the fire while monks prayed. The cremation could take all day and all night. When the fire burned out entirely the family would collect the ashes or remaining bone fragments to bury or keep in a jar.

Phra malai
Phra Malai was an enlightened person who was believed to have lived 500 years after the Lord Buddha passed into Nirvana. The story of Phra Malai is recounted in the Malai Sutra. This sutra has had a profound impact on Thai people's beliefs regarding good and bad karma, and ways of making merit such as giving alms to monks, listening to a recitation of the Mahachat sermon, or undertaking a water - pouring ritual to dedicate one's merit to deceased relatives. Certain rituals involved with weddings and funerals also originated in the Malai Sutra.

Weddings
Marriage in old times began with the groom asking the bride's parents for her hand, followed by an engagement ceremony, the building of a new house or room for the newlyweds, and then the actual wedding itself. The groom's family would make a procession to the bride's house in the morning with offerings for her family. In the afternoon prayers were held to bless the newlywed's quarters, which were usually within the bride's family's household compound. Next the bride and groom would sit among the families and guests while monks sprinkled them with holy water. Sometimes the groom would be required to sleep in the new quarters alone for three nights before the bride was delivered to him.

Children's games
Children's games were a part of everyday life in ancient times. Some games included funny songs or rhymes. Some used simple toys made from easily found materials such as coconut shells, banana plants, or the rims from old winnowing baskets, The rules and names of the games varied in different localities The main point was to have fun, kill time, and mimic adult career skills or activities rather than to compete or win. Children played in their yards, on balconies, or at the temples,

The rooms in Thai houses
Thai houses were airy wooden houses raised up on stilts with enough room to walk underneath. The steeply sloped roofs had awning - like extensions to provide more shade. Adjacent to the kitchen was a roofed balcony that served as the living room or parlor. Another balcony at the front of the house was used mainly for drying things in the sun, The bedroom was at a slightly higher level from the balcony so that breezes could enter the balcony. At the front of the house were stairs leading down that usually ended in an entranceway with a little thatch or tile roof. Farming equipment, weaving looms, rice storage bins, or mortars for grinding rice were kept under the house.

Boat songs
As early as the Ayutthaya period villagers in the Chaophraya River Basin sang boat songs for fun in the high water season around October and November. This is the same time of year they made processions to donate robes and other items to temples. Groups of 8-10 women and men would each ride a dugout or another type canoe - like paddle boat and sing courting songs using small cymbals or wood sticks to keep rhythm. The men would sing one verse and the women would respond with another. The lead singer's solos were punctuated by calls of "hahai" or "chacha" from the others.

The Mahachat sermon
The Mahachat sermon is the story of the last reincarnation of the Lord Buddha before he was born as the Buddha. There are 13 chapters in the sermon describing how Mahavesandorn made great merit by giving away everything he had, even his wife and children. Readings of the Mahachat sermon had no definite date or location but were often held at temples after the end of the rains retreat. People believed that if they listened to all 13 chapters in one day in their next life they would be born in the age of the next Boddhisatva.