Textiles and Village Economy
Textiles have played an important role in the economy of village life in Thailand throughout history. Cultural parameters demanded sets of textiles for various cultural events such as weddings, ordinations, Buddhist offerings and showing respect to the elders. These cultural beliefs preserved the high quality of the textiles as well as boosting the economy of the parties concerned. Textiles were collected in much the same way as savings accounts are kept today. In times of need, pieces were sold or exchanged and in the case of young couples, the production of the wife’s loom could subsidize any losses made in the agricultural activities of her family. Today weaving is a cash income for many Thai women.
Tung : Buddhist Banner
The word tung in Lan Na means thong or banner in Central Thai, which is the same kind of banner as the Indian patake. It is made of a piece of material, one end of which is fixed to a pole and left to hang down, being made of wood, brass, cloth, paper, palm leaf or zinc.
Banners are made for the purpose of Buddhist ceremonies, both festive and solemn but with different sizes, shapes, material and decorative motifs, depending on the beliefs, occasion and popular use. The purpose of making tung in Lan Na as an Offering to the Buddha. Both Thai Yuan and Tai Lue consider it also as an offering to their ancestors or merit making for their future life. This is symbolized in the structure of the tung made in the form of a ladder, representing the ladder to heaven. Sometimes these ladders will have sixteen stages of heaven.
(This is a belief written in the ancient Buddhist text know as Traiphum)
Recent Comments