KELLY NUXOLL UNRAVELS THREE OF THAILAND’S ARTFUL TRADITIONS

A wai is the
traditional Thai
greeting AS THAIS PROUDLY POINT OUT, theirs is the only country in South-East Asia that has never been colonised. Its history of independence lends its people a particular patriotism which is evident in their profound respect for His Majesty the King of Thailand – and also an unbroken line of ancient culture that survives even until today.

“There’s a continuity here, both with the arts and the religion,” says Alex Kerr, a scholar of traditional Asian culture. To introduce visitors and locals to Thailand’s cultural roots, Alex launched the Origin Thai Arts Programme in 2004. In Origin’s workshops, participants learn the history of Thai traditions, including etiquette, dance and flower arrangement, as well as try their hand at each.

Origin’s Bangkok Art
Centre was established
by Alex Kerr Patravadi Mejudhon, the founder of Bangkok’s Patravadi Theatre, which focuses on Thai performing arts with a modern twist, explains that many of these local art forms started as entertainment for the palace. They were also performed for visitors from other kingdoms – often their first taste of Th ai tradition. Today, the shows at Patravadi’s theatre, workshops at Origin and the like provide that first taste to anyone who’s interested.

What is most intriguing is how the customs which were started over seven centuries ago in the Kingdom’s royal courts are still evident on the streets of Bangkok today – particularly the following three art forms, which remain almost as important today as they were in the past.

Patravadi Theatre’s founder	Patravadi Mejudhon

MARAYAAT: PERFECT PROTOCOL

The thep Everything in Thailand begins with marayaat, or etiquette.

To some, the word might sound stuffy since, in the West, this usually only relates to the correct use of forks and elderly aunts. But in Thailand, good manners govern all aspects of daily life.

To illustrate its importance, Alex recounts the story of a monk who went to meet the abbot at the temple.

“Tell me about Buddha,” said the monk. “First, tell me where you placed your shoes when you entered the temple,” said the abbot. In a flash, the monk was enlightened: every gesture, no matter how small, must be done with great care. Nowhere is Thai etiquette more obvious than in the wai (the traditional Thai salutation). To greet each other, acquaintances press their fingertips and the heels of their hands together. If they are peers, they point their thumbs to their chests and tip their heads. To wai to someone more senior, they raise their thumbs to their noses; to a monk, they raise their thumbs to their foreheads.

The movement is simple, graceful and balanced. Even the accompanying greeting of sawasdee suggests harmony. Th e word has the same Sanskrit roots as swastika, meaning wellbeing. Although it has some very negative associations in modern times, the symbol is actually a 3,000-year-old sign of life and good luck.

Phap phiap “The shape of a swastika is perfectly balanced. In Th ai etiquette, everything and everybody is where they should be in regard to everything and everybody else,” explains Alex.

Thailand’s etiquette tradition, like all court cultures, privileges gestures that are slow and graceful. This even extends to how people walk, stand and particularly how they sit, especially before a monk or royalty. In the posture called phap phiap (or “folded”), women and men sit with legs to their sides – men with knees separated, women with knees together – while both men and women rest their hands on one knee. In the even more formal position of thep (or “angel”), men and women sit on their ankles, often with their hands in a wai.

“When you look at the gestures, they seem so relaxed. But when you try them, they’re a real strain,” Alex says. “Likewise, Th ai society looks very relaxed, but actually, it’s quite strict.”

RAM KHON: LORDS OF THE DANCE

Ram Khon dancers in
action Thai classical dance, also known as the Ram Khon, takes the gestures of traditional Thai etiquette and elaborates them to tell a story. With 1,000 years of refinement, it is among the oldest continuously-performed dance in the world. Th e first Khon dancers were Royal Palace guards, so the movements grew out of martial arts, incorporating sticks and swords.

The central story itself comes from the Ramakien, Th ailand’s twist on an Indian epic, and features a host of Hindu gods and goddesses that usually teach a moral lesson. Patravadi, the founder of Patravadi Theatre, explains that it is most likely that traders from India and Sri Lanka brought their dances to the region between the 12th and 16th centuries (see A Royal Drama on page 103). Th e performances became popular in the palaces of the Kingdom of Ayuthaya (1350-1767), and quickly developed a Th ai character.

“Thai classical dancers don’t show emotion,” says Patravadi. “For example, this is angry.” She lifts a hand to her face and lightly taps her chin. The movement is graceful and precise, but it is more the symbol of a feeling than an actual expression.

“Hate, love, it doesn’t matter. The gestures are always very still. You don’t know what the characters are thinking. In our culture, people who show a lot of emotion are considered low-class.”

Each of the four stock characters – Male (Phra), Female (Nang), Demon (Yak), Monkey (Ling) – adopts a distinctive pose. Th e demon (exemplified by Totsakan, the demon king in the Ramayana epic) stands with his head back and knees open, demonstrating arrogance. Hanuman, the monkey leader, crouches and, from time to time, scratches. Males and females stand with their arms and legs close to the body, like polite courtiers.

Costumes are as much to distinguish them as to beguile the audience. The dancers’ elaborately bejewelled headdresses curve at the edges, resembling the upturning eaves on the temple roofs. It is like they become a pagoda, a moving Buddhist shrine.

Likewise, dancers’ fingers curl backward toward their faces (a feat of flexibility professionals work on from the time they’re children), turning their hands into the wings of angels, another sign the dancers are not human at all, but creatures from heaven. Even the masks are sacred, prayed to before performances and stored on pedestals. “Dancers are Hindu gods descended onto earth,” explains Alex, “and the masks are their avatars.”

Performances begin with a wai to pay respect to teachers and to Ganesha, the Hindu deity associated with success and creativity, and further evidence of the Indian influence in Th ai culture.

“He is master of the arts,” says a performer at Patravadi Th eatre. “We pay homage to him so that we do the best that we can.”

This certainly seems to be working and Patravadi Th eatre, alongside the Joe Louis Theatre, are both highly-recommended places to be introduced to this ancient dance form.

BAISII: SACRED BLOOMS

Garlands On just about every street corner in the city of Bangkok, vendors sell hand-crafted garlands to donate as offerings in the temple. Their name comes from the Khmer word bai, which was translated in northern Thailand to mean “ability to be touched”; and the Sanskrit word sii means virtue. A baisii flower arrangement is therefore a container to hold goodness and virtue. No wonder that the sweet-smelling ropes of jasmine and gardenias are so oft en offered at temples and as gift s.

“In the past, Thai women didn’t get the opportunity to go to school,” explains Pinthong Thiengtham, who has been creating garlands and flower arrangements at The Peninsula Bangkok for six years. “They stayed at home and learnt how to cook, sew dresses, decorate houses, and arrange flowers. Making garlands was something well-educated, proper ladies were trained to do.”

Although flower arranging has diminished in the curriculum of women’s modern-day education, Th e Peninsula Academy off ers classes so visitors can experience the challenge of making their own garlands. The first step is a visit to the Pak Klong Talat flower market, where trucks overflowing with fresh-cut flowers rumble into Bangkok from the countryside. To make those offered to each arriving guest, the hotel buys fragrant white jasmine and gardenia blossoms, as well as miniature red roses. The scent is as much the gift as the garland, Pinthong explains, and you should not sniff at the flowers before you offer them to a monk or a special person.

Pinthong Thiengtham
demonstrates how to
create delicate garlands The flowers also use a language of symbols: carnations are for prosperity; bachelor buttons mean eternity; crown flowers – the tiny white buds – mean love; jasmine, the flower of Th ai Mother’s Day, means respect. The most important flower is the lotus, which is a symbol for Buddha that is used to decorate the palaces.

Stringing the flowers together is, like all the Thai classical arts, a feat of patterning. Each bloom is threaded through the centre with a long needle. Pinthong demonstrates that the jasmine flower is a five-pointed star, stacking the blossoms on top of each other so the points rotate around the string. They make a thick, densely packed rope, which is tied into a loop and embellished with several more strings of gardenias. Although they vary in size, the total should always be an odd number.

“You use odd numbers when you do anything related to monks,” Pinthong explains. “Monks are not supposed to have partners. They’re always alone.”

When the ropes are finished, Pinthong plucks the petals off the roses and folds them into even smaller buds to adorn the ends. While the folded roses look like ordinary blossoms at first glance, the advantage of creating them is that the artist can ensure all the flowers are tidy and uniform. As with Thai etiquette and dance, the garlands may appear simple and even organic, but in fact, they are expressions of stylised, carefully controlled beauty.

Indeed, such connections between the arts are as striking as their historical continuity. Each emphasises grace, propriety and respect for the social order. They demand discipline, requiring performers to create beauty within restraints.

“In Buddhism, we learn that we cannot hold on to anything – every day brings new flowers,” explains Patravadi. “Th e flowers don’t last, but everyone who sees them gets happiness. Th at’s also why we perform. The artists may change, grow old and die, but the knowledge is passed down, and the goodness stays.”

LEARN MORE

Joe Louis Puppet Theatre: Performs traditional Thai dance nightly at 7.30pm in the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, intersection of Wireless and Rama IV Road, tel +66 (0)2 252-9683-4, www.thaipuppet.com

Origin Thai Arts Programme: Offers interactive workshops of various lengths (from one day to a week) in English and Thai. 33 Soi Ladprao 60, tel +66 (0)2 259-4896, www.alex-kerr.com

Patravadi Theatre: Offers regular performances of Thai dance and classes in both traditional and contemporary arts. The Friday and Saturday evening dinner theatre features traditional Thai food in a gorgeous restaurant by the river, along with free performances. 69/1 Soi Wat Rakang, tel +66 (0)2 412-7287, www.patravaditheatre.com

Sala Chalermkrung: One of Bangkok’s leading theatres of Thai masked dance with traditional Ram Khon performances every Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm. Charoen Krung Road, tel +66 (0)2 222-0434, www.salachalermkrung.com

The Peninsula Academy at The Peninsula Bangkok runs a hands-on cultural and culinary programme, which includes flower arrangement. Call to book in advance. The hotel is accessible by boat from the pier near Saphan Taksin Skytrain station. 333 Charoennakorn Road, tel +66 (0)2 861-2888, http://bangkok.peninsula.com