Thai (people)

This article covers the majority ethnicity of Thailand. For the ethnic group of the Thái in Vietnam, see Thái (people) .

Thai folk music ensemble in traditional clothing (Wat Kung Tapao, Uttaradit Province )

The four main groups of Tai peoples in Thailand are grouped together to form the Thai ethnic group (formerly "Siamese") : the Central Thai ( Thai Klaang or Tai Siam ), the South Thai ( Thai Phak-Tai ), the North Thai ( Tai Yuan ) and the Khon Isan in the northeast (historically ethnic Lao ).

As a result of emigration, many Thai people live outside of Thailand. For example, 550,000 people identified themselves as Thai-Americans in the US census.

Delimitation and terminology

In ancient Siam , until the 19th century, only the central and southern Thai were called the actual Siamese, while the majority populations of northern and northeastern Thailand were considered Lao . According to this classification, only 30 to 35 percent of the population of what was then Siamese were Siamese, 40 to 45 percent were Lao. As a result of the national unification and centralization of Siam at the end of the 19th century and in order to separate himself from the French protectorate of Laos, this distinction was pushed back and by King Rama VI. (Vajiravudh) instead propagated the idea of ​​a unified Thai nation. In 1939, the government of Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram prohibited regional distinctions from being made at the same time as the Siams were renamed Thailand, and demanded that only Thai be used in general.

Often all Thais (citizens of Thailand), regardless of their ethnicity, are referred to as Thai. As a result of the Thaiization policy and the assimilation of immigrants and their descendants, many Thais do not differentiate between citizenship (san-chat) and ethnicity or origin (chuea-chat) .

Whether the Thai is a single ethnic group or whether the four regional large groups of Thai represent different ethnic groups is still controversial among ethnologists. The anthropologist Charles Keyes, who specializes in Thailand, suggests a multi-level structure: in a broader sense, "Thai" includes all the Tai-speaking peoples of Thailand as well as the assimilated minorities of the Sino-Thais , who now also speak Thai at home, and the Mon-Khmer- speaking peoples (especially Khmer) who are largely bilingual. As "real Thai", however, he only calls those Thai who speak standard Thai or central Thai dialects at home. Khon Isan in the northeast, Khon Mueang in the north and Khon Pak Tai in the south, on the other hand, are separate "ethno-regional" groups. In 2008, Keyes estimated the proportion of the “real Thai” in the population of Thailand to be 36%, that of the “regional Thai” to 46% and that of the “assimilated Thai” to 9%. Another 9% belong to ethnic groups that clearly differ from the majority population.

history

Thai growing rice. Rice is the staple food of this people

The origin of Thai is one of the most controversial questions in Thai historiography. In essence, five different theories are or were represented, which are now placed side by side in Thai histories.

According to recent linguistic research, the most plausible thesis is that the Tai peoples of Southeast Asia, including the Thai, immigrated from Guangdong , Guangxi and Yunnan in the second half of the 1st millennium . This is supported by the fact that there is the greatest diversity of Tai languages there, while the Tai languages ​​of Southeast Asia are all closely related to one another, i.e. they probably did not differentiate themselves until the last millennium.

From the early 20th century, the thesis prevailed among Thai historians that the original home of the Thai was in the Central Asian Altai Mountains. From there, the Thai migrated in several waves, first to Sichuan and Yunnan , then on to Thailand. This was also taught in Thai schools. However, there is practically no archaeological or linguistic evidence for this thesis and it is now considered outdated. Another thesis is that the Thai were the former population of the historical kingdom of Nanzhao (or Dali ), who were driven south by the Mongols after its fall in 1253, i.e. into today's Thailand. According to current research, this thesis must also be considered refuted: on the one hand, it is unlikely that the dominant Nanzhao population group was Tai, on the other hand, the presence of Tai peoples in Southeast Asia, including northern Thailand, has been around since the 8th century, i.e. for a long time before 1253, occupied. According to a fourth thesis, the Thai immigrated not from the north, but from the south, from the Malay archipelago and are more related to the Austronesian peoples than to the peoples of China.

Ultimately, the position is also taken that the question of a unified original home from which "the Thai" immigrated is already wrong. Finally, there is archaeological and anthropological evidence that the area of ​​Thailand has been inhabited since prehistoric times and that there is continuity in material culture , folklore and animistic beliefs up to the present day. Various ethnic groups that have immigrated to Thailand over the years have mixed with the people who were already there and brought in new cultural influences. “The Thai”, as they exist today, did not come from anywhere as a homogeneous group, but rather emerged from the continuous mixing of different groups and cultures.

The first state establishment under Tai leadership in what is now Thailand was probably Ngoen Yang in the far north of the country, from which the kingdom of Lan Na der Tai Yuan (Northern Thai) later emerged.

By the 12th century at the latest, the presence of Thai in the Khmer empire of Angkor is documented, which at that time also dominated what is now the central Thai basin of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya ( Chao Phraya River ). As is typical for the Tai peoples, they formed small-scale communities ( Müang ) consisting of several villages, each headed by a tribal prince (chao) . Their livelihood was wet rice cultivation . In some cases the Khmer appointed tribal chiefs of the Thai as governors. In 1238, two of these Angkor governors broke up and established the Sukhothai Kingdom . It gained dominance over large areas of what is now Thailand (and beyond) under King Ramkhamhaeng at the end of the 13th century.

Other peoples who settled in what is now Thailand were assimilated by the Thai. Their original Tai culture mixed with those of the Mon and Khmer . The Thai adopted Theravada Buddhism from the Mon and the statecraft of the Khmer. The Thai script was developed from the Mon script . The Thai language contains a variety of loanwords from the Khmer language . Much of the Thai is partly descended from Mon, Khmer, Lao and Chinese . Indian or Muslim immigrants have also been assimilated over time. Belonging to the Thai ethnic group depends on both cultural identity and descent.

religion

→ Main article : Buddhism in Thailand

Most of the Thai people (over 90%) profess Buddhism. Buddhism practiced in Thailand belongs to the Theravada current. From the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai in the 13th century and again since the “Orthodox Reformation” of King Mongkut in the 19th century, Thai Buddhism is based on the “original” Theravada Buddhism of Sri Lanka . The Thai folk belief, however, is a syncretic mixture of official Buddhist teachings, animistic elements that go back to the original beliefs of the Tai peoples, and Brahmanic - Hindu elements from India (partly adopted from the Hindu Khmer of the Angkor Empire).

San Phra Phum ("haunted house")

Belief in local, house or nature spirits , which have an impact on worldly problems such as health or prosperity, as well as ghosts (Thai phi , ผี ) is widespread. It manifests itself visibly z. B. in the so-called ghost houses ( San Phra Phum ) , which can be found on many properties. Phi play an important role in local folklore, but also in modern popular culture , such as television series and movies. "Ghost films " (nang phi) are a separate, significant genre of Thai film.

Hinduism has also left significant and present traces in Thai culture. Some Thai worship Hindu gods such as Ganesha , Shiva , Vishnu or Brahma (e.g. at the well-known Erawan shrine ). They see no contradiction in this to their actual Buddhist belief. The Thai national epic Ramakian is an adaptation of the Hindu Ramayana . Figures from Hindu mythology such as devas , yakshas , nagas , gods and their mounts (vahana) shape the mythology of the Thai and are represented in many ways in art, also as decorations on Buddhist temples. The Thai national symbol is Garuda, also taken from Hindu mythology .

The practice of tham bun (acquiring religious merit) is specific to Thai Buddhism . This can be done primarily through food and material donations to monks , contributions to the renovation and beautification of temples , releasing captured creatures (fish, birds), etc. Many Thai also worship particularly well-known and charismatic monks, some of whom are ascribed miracles or the status of accomplished Buddhist saints ( arahants ) . Other essential elements of popular belief are astrology , numerology , calendaring (the belief in particularly predetermined dates that promise luck or misfortune), talismans and amulets (often images of the particularly revered monks).

In addition to the approximately two million Muslim Malay in Thailand, there is also a minority of ethnic Thai who profess Islam, especially in the south , but also in the greater Bangkok area. As a result of proselytizing, Christian Thai are another minority . Among them are both Catholics and members of Protestant denominations.

See also

• Thaiization
• Thai language
• History of Thailand

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fox, M. (1997). A history of Laos. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
   Fox, M. (2008). Historical Dictionary of Laos (3rd ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
   Goodden, C. (1999). Around Lan-na: a guide to Thailand's northern border region from Chiang Mai to Nan. Halesworth, Suffolk: Jungle Books.
   Wijeyewardene, G. (1990). Ethnic groups across national boundaries in mainland Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
2. ^ Charles F. Keyes: Cultural Diversity and National Identity in Thailand. In: Government policies and ethnic relations in Asia and the Pacific. MIT Press, 1997, p. 200.
3. ↑ Jana Raendchen: Thai Concepts of Minority Policy. National Integration and Rural Development in North-East Thailand. In: Ethnic minorities and politics in Southeast Asia. Peter Land, 2004, p. 172.
4. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 2007, p. 246, ISBN 978-0-87727-742-2 .
5. ^ Joel Sawat Selway: Ethnicity and Democracy. In: Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Democratization. Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2015, pp. 147–169, at p. 166.
6. ^ Charles Keyes: Ethnicity and the Nation-States of Thailand and Vietnam. In: Challenging the Limits. Indigenous Peoples of the Mekong Region. Mekong Press, Chiang Mai 2008, p. 25.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Alexandra R. Kapur-Fic: Thailand. Buddhism, Society and Women. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi 1998, pp. 22-23.
8. ↑ Luo, Wei; Hartmann, John; Li, Jinfang; Sysamouth, Vinya (December 2000). "GIS Mapping and Analysis of Tai Linguistic and Settlement Patterns in Southern China" (PDF). Geographic Information Sciences . DeKalb: Northern Illinois University.
9. ↑ Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2014). Layers of Chinese Loanwords in Proto-Southwestern Tai as Evidence for the Dating of the Spread of Southwestern Tai. MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities, Special Issue No 20: 47-64.
10. ↑ Baker, Chris; Phongpaichit, Pasuk (2017), A History of Ayutthaya , Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-19076-4 .
11. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 2007, ISBN 978-0-87727-742-2 , p. 247.
12. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2003, p. 10.
13. ^ Charles F. Keyes: Cultural Diversity and National Identity in Thailand. In: Government policies and ethnic relations in Asia and the Pacific. MIT Press, 1997, p. 203.
14. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. 2007, pp. 245-246.
15. ↑ Fry, Gerald W; Nieminen, Gayla S; Smith, Harold E (2013) and Fry, Gerald W (2014). "Thai exceptionalism"
16. ↑ ^{a b} Patit Paban Mishra: The History of Thailand. Greenwood, 2010, p. 11.
17. ↑ SN Desai: Hinduism in Thai Life. Popular Prakashan Private, Bombay 1980.
18. ↑ Pattana Kitiarsa: The Horror of the Modern. Violation, Violence and Rampaging Urban Youths in Contemporary Thai Ghost Films. In: Engaging the Spirit World. Popular Beliefs and Practices in Modern Southeast Asia. Berghahn Books, 2011, pp. 200–220.
19. ↑ Patit Paban Mishra: The History of Thailand. 2010, pp. 11-12.
20. ↑ Desai: Hinduism in Thai Life. 1980, p. 63.
21. ↑ Desai: Hinduism in Thai Life. 1980, p. 26.
22. ↑ Kate Crosby: Theravada Buddhism. Continuity, Diversity, and Identity. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester (West Sussex) 2014, p. 277.
23. ↑ Stanley J. Tambiah: The Buddhist Arahant. Classical Paradigm and Modern Thai Manifestations. In: Saints and Virtues. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles 1987, pp. 111-126.
24. ↑ Timothy D. Hoare: Thailand. A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara CA 2004, p. 144.
25. ^ Justin Thomas McDaniel: The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk. Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand. Columbia University Press, New York 2011.