The culture of Thailand is a unique mix of ancient religious beliefs and modern pragmatic laws. It combines elements of the neighboring countries’ cultures such as India, China and Cambodia. Besides, it incorporates elements indicating ancient beliefs of the whole Southeast Asia. From the religious point of view Thai culture manages to include elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism. And all these influences create a real uniqueness of the country, which remained mainly untouched by the European culture because of rarely contacts before Thai exclusive image was discovered by European travelers.
Wedding ceremony is one of the most identifying features of any culture. It reflects the basic values of people as well as their attitude to sex and gender. Besides, wedding customs provide an insight into the religious beliefs and stereotypes of the nation. As to say, wedding is the concentration of many religious and cultural perceptions. In Thailand wedding is a complex ceremony, which includes many little customs based on the complicated beliefs of the country.
The wedding ceremony includes the khan mark. It is the custom of giving small gifts to the couple. The customs is accompanied by singing and dancing and consists of two phases. The presents are brought to the house of the bride, which once more reflects the importance of women in the Thai culture. The couple also received the ritual blessing from both families during a special prayer. After the wedding the newly-married couple is usually settled at the bride’s house. From the economical point of view it is effective because the family receives the aid at the field work. From the folklore site, there are different proverbs reflecting that bride and mother-in-law under one roof can cause bad consequences. All in all, women are shown higher respect during the wedding ceremony than men. In recent times, many Thais living in urban areas decided to take an official Western-style wedding ceremony but the traditional one does not lose it popularity.
Thai culture remains unique and almost untouched throughout the years. People managed to create their own culture combining different traditions and religious beliefs taken from neighboring countries. Wedding ceremony, as one of the most indicative cultural signs, shows this combination of Buddhism and Thai beliefs. The woman is highly respected in the society and therefore bride is the most important person at the wedding ceremony. Besides, the ceremony reflects the Thai’s attitude to the religion. Monks are respected and worshipped but only before the ceremony. During the ceremony itself monks are not desired guests. This means that Thais divide the personal life and the religion.
Works Cited
Thai Customs and Traditions. AsiaRooms.Com. Web. 20 May 2012.
Kapur-Fic, Alexandra R. Thailand: Buddhism, Society and Women. Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1998. Print.
Kislenko, Arne. Culture and Customs of Thailand. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2004. Print
