The importance of the Thai village

[khunsanuk]

For those fellas who have an interest in Thai culture, and especially those who are, or think they may be, seriously involved with a Thai lady, I think you may be interested in this article.

 

I don't know what percentage, but I would venture to say that the vast majority of bargirls come from upcountry villages. Having an understanding of village life and the family unit will help you to understand your lady.

 

The village has always been the center of Thai life. The Thais call it "Moobaan", which means "the village where home is", and this is an accurate term because the family, the home, and the village are basically one and the same. The village is a close knit working and living unit where the majority of Thai people are born and raised. It is the central feature of countryside living and even those who live in the large cities of the country hold many of the village values in their hearts. As a predominantly agricultural country, 75 percent of the population of Thailand lives in rural areas and the larger proportion of these reside in villages. A typical Thai mailing address reads something like this: House no. 24, Moo 7, Tambon Khalang, Amphur Muang, Changwat Chiangrai; where Moo is village, Tambon is district, Amphur Muang is city, and Changwat is province. Notice there is no street name or number but there is a house number, and the second part of the address is Moo, or village.

 

The above address and village name is created, it does not exist; but throughout Thailand's rural areas and even in parts of cities such as Chiangrai and Chiangmai this address system is used. The towns and cities of Thailand are surrounded by vast stretches of farmland where the majority of people live in villages. Thai villages usually consist of about 100 homes and about 500 people, but many are much smaller and some are a little larger. They are nearly all farming communities and they have been there for generations and some even for centuries. Because of the close-knit nature of the Thai village and the emotional security that the lifestyle generates, village culture is deeply ingrained in the majority of Thai people.

 

In a village, everyone knows each other and all are friendly with each other. They cooperate, help each other, protect each other, and develop human bonds which take the already extended Thai family out further to include non-blood relatives whom urban people would simply call friends or neighbors. If you're at all familiar with the Thai language, you'll hear younger Thai people address friends and coworkers with the endearing term of 'Pi'. Pi means brother or sister, as in 'Pichy' or 'Pisow', and when Thais use this term to address another there is an automatic bonding that tells the person addressed "we are close and we have the same goals''. This occurs even in situations where two people barely know each other, and the familiarity of this term and its use stems from the closeness of people that exists naturally in the countryside Thai village. Another example of this closeness can be seen in young Thai people who might, at different times, refer to three different older women as 'Mae' or 'mother': On the surface this is a relatively loose use of the term, but in reality it is sincere. It comes about because as young children in the village a number of women care for the children while the real mother is out working, with other villagers on the farm. The relative free use of 'pi' and 'Mae' are but two examples that show how the village, the family and the home come together in a traditional Thai village.

 

Children growing up in a Thai Village are among the most cared for and secure children in the world. They are smothered with attention, both from immediate family members and other members of the village. They grow up in an environment where they receive the love of the community and at the same time learn the responsibilities within both the family and the village community. They have the trust of their elders and therefore a freedom which is perhaps unmatched in most of the world. There is always someone to look after them, always someone to talk with them, and always someone to guide them. These factors form, over the growing period, a clear perception of the people and life around them and a solidarity with their fellow villagers that makes them virtually inseparable. There is often a sharing of work, of food, of families and of homes.

 

The center of the village community today is the Buddhist temple or Wat. Each village has one and they were traditionally built by the villagers themselves. This is now not the case since professional builders are available, but the older wats that were constructed through the cooperation of the villagers and their materials and manual labor were another feature that created such a close-knit community. Today, in most Thai villages, you will see most houses in wood, having been built by the villagers, but the wat is most often in a whitewashed concrete, stone or brick. This has not detracted from the role of the wat in the village community. In addition to Buddhist Offerings and traditional religious practice, villagers use the wat for their meetings and social events as well as for some of the education of their children. Before the recent construction and staffing of public schools in Thailand's countryside areas, wats were the center of education also. Many village wats still provide essential elementary education. The wat as meeting place functions as much more than just a convenient location. On Thai holidays, villagers usually gather on the wat grounds where they can socialize and have fun, and often these grounds are set up with games, contests and for food. Entering the monkhood, if only for one month, is a extremely important event in the life of a Thai man. In the village where traditional Thai culture remains as strong as it was 20 years ago, most of the boys enter a wat at the age of 20 and it is an important festive occasion for all village members. Villagers will always ask the abbot of the wat to intervene on their behalf in asking the spirit of the land for permission to build a new house and even purchases of automobiles, trucks and motorcycles are brought to the abbot for a blessing.

 

So much of village life is community oriented that from birth to death, including illnesses, nearly all matters are village affairs. Two of the many characteristics that distinguish Thai from other peoples originate in the traditional village. One is the concept of 'sanuk' or 'fun'. The Thai tendency to seek out fun whenever possible stems from the community socializing and sharing of the village and its people. The second Thai characteristic that has resulted from rural village life is Called 'boon koon' and 'torbtaen boon koon', or doing and returning favors. This comes from the villagers helping with a new house, growing crops on others land, helping with harvests, and providing help in illness or times of trouble. In Thai villages where people are basically poor and life and nature often come together to make things difficult, these two concepts of 'fun' and 'favors' are very important. The traditional Thai village house is a microcosm of the village itself. It is a large, one-room wood structure raised from the ground, where all members of the immediate extended family live and function. The one room is used as kitchen, bedroom, living and dining room, and corners are set aside for storage, and for some privacy. But there is no real privacy in a Thai village house, and this lifestyle which begins in the family home breeds a familiarity with lack of privacy and a communal form of living. This is perhaps why the average Thai values cleanliness so highly, tends to share all information with everyone within earshot, maintains an uncanny tolerance for others and their habits, simultaneously pursues his or her own highly individualistic path without reference to others, and hardly ever presumes to tell another what he should or should not do. The Thai village house is generally comfortable and functional. There is a place for everyone, other villagers don't hesitate to walk in and sit down, and when people want to go to sleep they do. On ground level, below the raised house, is a work area and space for farming, animals, or machinery. The Thai village is often seen as a beautiful depiction of simplicity and tradition. The rice fields spreading out in all directions are lush green, the rivers flow and form the central irrigation system, people farm and people fish. The village is a communal unit which has always been strong because of the need for people to get along and to work together. People from the village take their values with them to Thailand's cities, and whenever possible they always do go back to the Villages. One can say that even in cities like Bangkok and Chiangmai, the village and the values and concepts it breeds are still the center of Thai life.

 

Perhaps the best way to comprehend Thai social values is to focus on its basic unit, the family, and in particular the rural family in its typical village setting. Generations living under one roof, or at least under several roofs within the same compound; and it is here that the Thai child learns codes of behavior that will guide him/her throughout much of their later life, whether it is spent in the village or beyonds.

 

There is little privacy in the village home and the communal life style instills a strong sense of social harmony in which tact, compromise, and tolerance are essential. The father is regarded as the leader, but the mother also plays a significant role, particularly in the family finances.

 

Respect for elders is taught very early, so by the time a child walks he/she is aware of their position in the family hierarchy, a distinction that applies not only to the relationship between parents and children but also to that between siblings of different ages. This same delineation of roles also applies to the wider world outside the family and will remain deeply ingrained throughout life, thus explaining the reluctance of younger Thais to oppose or otherwise confront a senior during their subsequent careers in business or government.

 

A sense of responsibility is also inculcated in early childhood. Each child is assigned certain duties according to age and ability - feeding livestock, leading the family buffalo to graze in nearby pastures, taking care of younger brothers and sisters while parents are at work in the fields. As they grow older, responsibilities increase and they are allowed to participate in family discussions, with their opinions taken into account when important decisions are made.

 

One of the prime responsibilities placed on children is that of taking care of parents in their old age, a prominent feature of the Thai concept of family. There is no feeling of being inconveniened by this duty of caring for aged parents; on the contrary, their acquired wisdom gives them an honored place in the household, and their counsel is actively sought in teaching their grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be responsible adults with the same traditional values.

 

Cheers,

 

Bigdog

[Khun004]

Wonderful article.

Thank you for taking time to post that here.

I learned a lot.

 

May I ask, what is the source?

Would be worthwhile to read more along those lines.

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

This was written by BigDog, a friend of mine, who used to post on ASFO. He hasn't posted there, or anywhere else, for a long time though as far as I am aware.

 

Sanuk!

 

[soongmak]

After several visits to my wife's moo baan, I finally found out how things worked in the village, and it is exactly as Bigdog describes here. Not that I ever could write it down as good as he did, especially because my thai is severely lacking. :thumbup:

 

I very much like the idea of being part of my wife's family, now that I fully understand the concept of the thai family. My wife and I have bought some land in her village and will make a home there, as soon as the baby is big enough to travel. I don't think I will ever live in Bangkok again.

 

Cheers!

[Pescator]

The Thais call it "Moobaan", which means "the village where home is"

 

 

No, it doesn`t, Muu Baan means a group/cluster of houses thus forming a village.

Also found in the term Mu Koh... group of islands.

 

Children growing up in a Thai Village are among the most cared for and secure children in the world

 

Hmm, that is somewhat contradicted to a recent post on this board claiming that pedophilia in thai villages is widespread.

 

I wonder if the original poster ever lived in a thai village as I did.

Most cared for and secure?

Geez, a lot of them are lucky to see their parents a couple of times a year.

 

They grow up in an environment where they receive the love of the community and at the same time learn the responsibilities within both the family and the village community.

 

I guess that`s why there is no crime in the mubaans and why everybody locks up everything and keep dogs roaming the perimeter.

 

taking care of younger brothers and sisters while parents are at work in the fields.

 

Or just as likely off to work in Korea/PTY/BKK/HKT for a couple of years, leaving the kids with anyone who can be persuaded to take on the burden.

 

In a village, everyone knows each other and all are friendly with each other

 

It gets better and better.

I wonder if we could include our neighbour who hit my father in law on the head with a club (following an argument about their status in the village) and subsequently got beaten half to death by my brother-in-law?

 

On another occasion same neighbour had called my father-in-law Ai Kwai- "you buffalo" while there were witnesses around. He was fined 500 baht.

 

Or same brother-in-law who was seing another woman in the mubaan and got caught redhanded only to receive a near fatal beating by hubbie and his mates.

Or the shopkeeper`s husband who got very very friendly with his 12 year old stepdaughter.

`nother neighbour hit his wife on the head with an axe in our house, I was present, I thought he broke her skull. Reason, she urged him to go home to sleep it off.

 

15 years ago my inlaws were dirt poor. And my father-in-law was often denied access to join the Pu Yai in their drinking sessions. Reason? He was just too poor and low class. You may not think that that is a big thing, but is sure as Hell was to him. And people noticed that he was left out.

When the village got the first TV set, the Puu Yais were invited inside to watch and the rest could go F*** themselves.

 

Spend any serious amount of time in a thai village, speak the language and you will know what kind of shit goes on.

 

I am not trying to give the impression that everybody is petty and envious etc etc. Just some real life examples to counterweigh the original post.

 

Severe case of rose tinted glasses here.

 

hn

 

 

 

 

 

[Nervous_Dog]

As much as I love living in the village, and I really do enjoy my time there I agree with hua here

 

Children often seem very happy, and they are because many dont have parents around to nag them, at on the surface it apears lovely, I fell for the same thinking, but underneath it is a different story.

 

Children aged 13 and 14 are often married off to the first boy the girls parents catch her with,

 

Alchhol abuse is rising sharply among these kids,

 

Remember in many cases mum and dad are not around and granny is far to old and has to many others to look after these kids.

 

DOG