The Thai Culture: Religion and History

The culture of Thailand is deeply imbued with Theravada Buddhism, which is the official religion practiced by almost the entire population (4% of Muslim and less than 1% of Christians). Much of the arts, painting, sculpture, architecture, dance and music, undergoes this influence and is serving traditional representations of Buddhism and its derivatives. In accordance with the teachings of Buddha, monks practice asceticism. Every morning they get their food from residents and traders around 6 a.m., even in the megalopolis capital, Bangkok - also called Krung Thep in Thai.

There is also a great sustainability of animist beliefs. They manifest themselves in the belief in magic amulets and in the domestic worship rendered to the "spirit of place" (chao thi), which are devoted small lavatories present at the homes or in the shops or restaurant(when possible). Thais pray or thank and make offerings (necklaces of flowers and food).

In Thailand, there are different cultures: Buddhist culture, the traditional culture and Muslim culture. Muslims are living in the south on the peninsula, near the border with Malaysia, in the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

At the beginning, Thais are from China (source). However, the Thai language has no relationship with the Chinese language. It belongs to the branch of khmer language also know as Tai Kadaya.

Buddhist culture and traditional covers the entire Thailand, and basically two types of cultures: the culture in the Lao provinces of North-east and north, once known as "Lanna-Lao" and then "Lanna-Thai") and Thai culture itself (the Siamese). But the Lao and Thai are of the same family. When the king moved to Bangkok in 1782, after the destruction of Ayuthaya by the Burmese in 1767, the Siamese leaders appeal to artists and craftsmen to build the Lao town itself. The pagoda of the Emerald Buddha "Wat Prakao" (pronounced 'OUAT prakéo') in Bangkok was built by them, forcibly taken by the Siamese, after the sacking of Vientiane (Lao capital of Vientiane Kingdom Lanxang) to 1778 by the Siamese army.

The North-East, a region known as Isan, is inhabited by people close to Lao, called "Thai Isan." They have a distinct culture because that territory was originally a part of the Kingdom of Lao Lanxang before the Frenchs arrived in 1893. Finally annexed by Siam in the 1900s, after the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 3 October 1893, this territory was given the name Isan ( "North-east") to 1907-1910. Since then, the Lao North-East or "Lao Isan" lose their ethnic identity, currently under the name "Isan Thai (Issan food is very specific to the region and now sought and recognized throughout Thailand), speaking Lao and are still struggling to preserve their culture. In the 1930s, the Lao North-East were oppressed by those in power (under P. Pribun-Sangkhrama): they were not allowed to speak Lao, and the women were not allowed to wear the Lao skirts. The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang-was dominated by Siam before the arrival of the French.