http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBN8g4sviw8

One hot afternoon this last April (right before the Thai New Year) my neighbors called to me to photograph something.  I didn’t realize I would be observing an annual ceremony held at their house. 

I went in and the family, which made up of twelve people, was sitting down in their front room.  They had put a satong, which is a box made from the trunk of a banana tree, between them and an elderly man who was leading the ceremony.  The older gentleman was a friend of the family and a former monk. 

The ceremony began with Paw Can (the older man) chanting from a book written in N. Thai.   After a bit one of the fathers lit a candle in the center of the satong.  While the chanting was going on everyone else was silent and clasped their hands together (in a prayer-like fashion).  

When the chanting was done the family gathered around and stretched out their hands to be sprinkled on by scented water above the satong (see video).   Then the ceremony was complete.

Afterwards one of the fathers took the satong and placed it outside the housing complex near some rice fields.

Later the grandpa of the family explained to me that all the bad fate and fortune (from the previous year) was taken away by the chanting.  The water spattered on the hands washed them clean of all “badness”.   The satong was taken outside the household compound so all that bad fate could be released away from them.  

I had a neighbor who lived just down the road from me.  This man was sick.   He had wrapped sai seen (white string) around his house.  He didn’t get better.  So some friends sought out a medium to find out what was wrong with him.  

After they explained to the medium their friend’s dilemma, he decided to go and visit the man via a spirit entering his body.  The medium never left his house but through a spirit’s power he was able to travel and see the sick man.  Once he got there he said, “I can’t visit your sick friend.  The sai seen is preventing me from entering the house.” 

So a couple of people raced back to the sick man’s house and took off the sai seen.  Then they went back to the medium.  Once the string was off the medium was then able to enter the house and help him.  He also explained what things were stored underneath and around the house even though he had never physically been there. 

The Lue frequently use white string in their ceremonies.  During one of my culture sessions one of my helpers shared this story when I asked about the use of the string. “At first I didn’t believe this story,” my helper said, “But I now I think it really happened.  The string has power.” 

Not only can it keep mediums from barging in, but also ghosts and other spirits from harassing people during any given rite. 

Even though it was still dark, there was a bustle of activity happening by the time we got there.  A constant stream of ladies deposited packets of sticky rice in offering bowls.   Many people were walking around the stupa and pouring water on figurines shaped in the form of demi-gods, tigers, goats, and dogs.   Wads of sticky rice were placed near the statuettes as well (see photo). Others were lighting candles and setting them at the base of the stupa.  A light cacophony of prayers could be heard as my neighbors made there way around the shrine.  

By the time the sun came over the horizon, a couple hundred people had gathered.   After a local government official gave a few announcements, the group sat on a mat and listened to a Buddhist monk’s sermon.  When the talk was done, everyone got up and had a hot bowl of rice soup and herbal tea.    Then we went home. 

Yesterday asked about the meaning of the ceremony with my culture helpers.   My neighbors believe the spirits of their ancestors reside in the stupa as well as the statuettes.  The food and water offered were for the spirits to eat.  The ancestors in turn would shield my friends from sickness and harm.  

More importantly, a core belief from the heart rose to the surface.  An idiom that the Lue often say is, “If you do good, you receive good, if you do evil, you receive evil.”  This belief permeates all actions, from participating in ceremonies to greeting guests.  By taking care of the ancestors they in turn will take care of you.   “This (the idiom mentioned) is why we did this ceremony,” my helper said.

My family just moved to a new location about 60 miles from our old place in Northern Thailand.  We are now in a Lue village that has a similar dialect to the one we were studying before.  The new village has about two hundred homes and is located near a major river.  We do live in a flood plain and the neighbors keep pointing out five foot high flood lines from a deluge that came through four years ago.   Yikes!

We are blessed with many friends from our old village that helped pack up moving vans and the came over to help unpack too.   We couldn’t have done the move without them.  After all our stuff was unloaded, the village headman’s wife made a wonderful meal for us and everyone that helped out.   What a great welcome.

Boat races are popular here and happening all this month.   Our village won second place out the 143 other boat teams last weekend.  I’ll write more about the boat races in another post.  

My survey responsibilities are over and I’m back to studying Lue culture full-time (or I should say after we get settled in).   The next season of study will mainly be focusing on the covert aspects of the Lue culture (beliefs and values).  I’m hoping to learn to speak at discourse level in the next year or so.  

I asked a couple, “Suppose your daughter wanted to marry a Thai man.  How would you feel about that?”  Their answer helped shed light on whether they see themselves as culturally distinct from the mainstream population.   If they said, “It would be her choice to marry whoever she wishes,” then that might be a clue that the culture is shifting to the prevailing customs and away from their own (usually this was the answer given).

On the other hand, if the parents had answered, “She should only marry a Moklen man,” that might be a clue that they still uphold different values than the popular view.

The question I asked is also related to whether the Moklen feel inferior to others.  Families wish to gain and bestow honor in a marriage.  If they feel like they are “below” others than perhaps marrying into a “higher” family isn’t an option.   Watching body language and the reaction to the questions like these give clues to how they view themselves.

In the East you can’t just go up to a stranger and say, ”Do you feel inferior to other groups?”  Finding out what people believe or think can sometimes be a tricky business.  Asking indirect questions or giving analogous stories is less intimidating than the Western way of straightforward queries.  This is especially true with ethnic groups that tend to be shy or unwilling to open themselves up to strangers.

I’m involved in surveying four people groups around the country.  I just came back from a two-week trip down in S. Thailand doing assessments with the Sea Gypsies- the Moken and Moklen people groups.  One of the purposes of the survey was to do primary research on whether or not these groups are in the midst of enculturation (into Thai society).

This last season of assessments has taken me to west coast of Thailand on its southern isthmus.  Along with a couple of friends, I hopped on a long tail boat (see photo) and went to a few little islands just off the coast to seek out one of the three Sea Gypsy people groups-the Moken (roughly pronounced maw-can).  One particular trip was a night excursion between two island villages.

9:30 pm- There was no moon and it was cloudy with a bit of sprinkles that tickled our necks.  We hopped on a boat and got a ride from Phayam Island to Elephant Island in a boat that had no running lights.   We did the trip completely in the dark over open water.  The swell was only 1-3 feet so hardly any spray came in, yet the bow of the boat continually hammered into the surge with a “Boom, boom!”  Our driver knew the waters well, but it still was a bit unnerving to travel without knowing where the shorelines ended and where possible outcroppings of rock began. The only shapes to be seen were the outlines of the islands that we passed or the occasional squid trawler over the dark, undulating expanse.  The trip lasted for over an hour, and we landed safely on the beach around 11p.m.

The next morning, we visited a village to see if their heart language was still Moken or if they had switched to Thai. I also wanted to discover if they retained some aspects of their worldview (e.g. funeral practices, resolving domestic squabbles, use of indigenous clothing or national costume) or were in the midst of adopting the Thai culture.  All the Moken I met were friendly and willing to share about themselves with a complete stranger-me.  I was able to complete my survey.

Approaching A Village For Survey

Moken Couple In Their House

I don’t speak or comprehend E. Bruu.  You might be wondering, “How you can tell whether or not the people are using the local dialect?”

It is actually quite easy to distinguish the local tongue from Thai (which I understand).  All the other languages spoken in the area are from the Thai language family and hence use the same phonetics.   Bruu, on the other hand, is part of the Mon-Khmer language family and has many phones (e.g. initial voiced affricates, word final flapped alveo-palatals) that Thai related languages don’t have.  So, as soon as I hear something that isn’t familiar at all, then it has to be Bruu.

A typical visit would be to first see the village headman.   He functions like a mayor or village elder.  It is the custom of this country to visit the headman first, especially if the visitor doesn’t know anyone in the community.   To show good manners and respect I’ll usually bring him some fresh fruit and give it to him at the beginning of our conversation.   I’ll introduce myself by saying that I’m here for academic research (which is true) and ask if I could bother him for a few minutes with some cultural questions. Some of my questions are:
•    What do the children prefer to speak? (In this area the people can understand three minority languages and one national language)
•    What language to women use with each other, the opposite sex, the elderly and kids?
•    Is there intermarriage with other ethnic groups?

During our conversation I’ll ask him permission to tour the village and chat with the members of the community.  I’ll then walk around the village or plop down at a noodle shop to listen and chat with the neighbors.   Stores and noodle shops are great places to listen to the local dialect and see what languages are actually spoken in a natural context.

I’m going to doing people group assessments for the next few months.  For more detailed description of the purpose of these surveys please read my Survey Coordinator post.

A teenage friend of mine was in a motorcycle accident last week.   He was riding behind the driver (like the girl in the photo) when their bike collided into the rear of another motorcycle that had three people on it.  Tragically, the passenger that was closest to the impact on the other motorbike was killed.   Thankfully my friend came away with just a few minor scratches and a black eye.

Later I found out the family of the deceased requested a large settlement from the driver who was at fault.  This was just and normal, but what happened later wasn’t.   My friend’s family paid for half the amount requested by the surviving relatives.  I thought to myself, “Why did his family have to pay anything?”  Thai law doesn’t require that a third party should compensate for loss of life.  My friend was just the passenger, so how could he be at fault or responsible?   None of the people involved in the accident were related by blood so I still didn’t understand what had happened. Were they just being gracious?

I found out later this has nothing to do with injustice or grace but of maintaining honor.   If my friend had not helped financially his family would’ve been viewed as stingy and unkind.   That may not mean much to us (from the Western worldview) but has incredible importance in the East.  There was an even a more decisive factor that played a part in this drama.  The reputation of the village would’ve been harmed as well.  Our village is known throughout the area for its generosity and kindness.  In Lue the word that describes these characteristics is namcay, which literally means “water heart”.  To say that someone or a group of people doesn’t have namcay is major black mark on their character.  The village would have been considered a place of no namcay (i.e. a place of shame).   My friend, his family and his village’s reputation could have been severely tarnished (for months or years) if he didn’t help financially.  Sustaining honor is deep-seated in the core of the Lue heart.  It could be compared to how an American views freedom or individual rights.  How a group is viewed is as vital as breathing.   Therefore my friend’s family was obligated to give a cash sum.   It did not cross their minds this was an unjust act.   Upholding the community’s honor had exceedingly more value than the loss of individual funds.

How diametrically different the Lue worldview is to my own.  I looked at this as either an unjust or gracious act in contrast to my neighbor’s need to preserve the honor of the community and family clan.

“Why doesn’t the family of the deceased turn back to see the coffin burn? Why do they leave so quickly after the fire is lit?  It is because they don’t want to be haunted by the spirit of the dead,” my friend explained, “The ghost will see and remember and then go and harass the family.”

At the end of a funeral ceremony the body is to be cremated as is custom among those of the Buddhist faith.   I’ve always wondered why everyone exits so quickly once the coffin is alit.  I just happened to hear the reason for this in the last week while chatting with a good friend. Making sure that one does not upset the spirits of the dead is reflected in many actions and customs.

Although it may seem a bit morbid to be learning about funeral practices and the beliefs associated them, I find that you can learn a great deal about the core values that make up a people’s worldview from them.

Since I don’t speak these languages, I’ll be using the business language of the country-Central Thai.  I’ll be interviewing a variety of people from government officials, local leaders, teachers, police, and villagers.  Interviews will vary from learning about demographics to religious beliefs.

As romantic as this job sounds (with all the traveling), most of my time will be doing research from my computer, organizing the collected data and disseminating the data to those who may study these cultures further.  I’ll also be delegating some of the workload with co-workers that live near the groups to be surveyed.

In July I’ll go back to studying the Lue culture full-time.   Presently I’ll continue to do culture studies in the evenings and on the weekends.    I won’t be bored.