ChiangMai - Wednesday, October 31, 2007

We started the day with an orientation of Lanna culture, dance and music (ORIGIN arts course) sat the local Chiang Mai University Center for the Promotion of Arts and Culture by a retired professor from Chiang Mai University (Dr. Vitti) who did his undergraduate and graduate work at UCLA…and graduated from there the same year as Chris!!! There are a number of reconstructions of typical Lanna houses.

Traditionally, the roof of the house was large leaves (related to Teak) that were soaked in water and then stitched together on bamboo sticks. The supports were eucalyptus poles held together with bamboo twine. The floor consisted of split open bamboo poles and walls and partitions were of woven bamboo. The houses are elevated to keep them dry in the rainy season (April – October).

The more modern houses (see below) are quite charming as well as practical and are still being built and utilized today. The structure on the right is the rice house where all the family's rice was stored. It is a separate structure to protect the rice In case of fire in the main house. In the structures below, the posts are made from teak wood (teak is the only wood that termites don't eat). Bedrooms do not have windows and tend to be used only for sleeping or storage. The large patio is used as a gathering place as well as for drying items.

Lanna is a matriarchal society so the husband moves in with the wife’s family. Generally there would be two bedrooms in the house. Everyone would sleep in one room except for the newly weds. When they have their first baby they would generally move to a small hut nearby and then another daughter can get married. The grandfather after the age of 55 or so gets kicked out to porch.

There are no large weddings and the biggest celebration is for the birth of the first daughter. Generally the family tries out the husband for a year to make sure that he is a good worker…perspective suitors often check out the size of the rice house…if it is too large they would be concerned they would have to work too hard. There is a lot of divorce in the first year.

After dinner (during courtship) the girls prepare themselves to entertain suitors on the porch. They would dress well and display their crafts (girls are expected to learn weaving). The rest of the of family must remain out of site but the mother listens to the conversation. Couples can talk all night but touching in the house in not allowed…girls are also not allowed to go on the ground at night. Mothers like boys with rough hands (good workers).

The people living in the city are more influenced by the Chinese and families tend to be patriarchal.

Boys were pampered until the age of ten. Then it was (is) an honor for family to have their son become a novice monk. They would remain a monk until about the age of 16 years then join a caravan of traders looking for rice house (and wife). As the sons often joined families far away, children generally did not know their father’s side of the family.

Some males remain monks and become quite well educated and generally would be more highly regarded than even university graduates.

Girls used to marry at age 13 or 14 but now tend to marry about age 20. The matriarchal society integrates well for modern society as the women are used to being in charge.

We had a traditional lunch outside at the center and then we were entertained with traditional Lanna music and dancing and shown the proper etiquette for meeting/greeting those younger, older and even monks.

Next we headed to the inner streets of old Chiang Mai and visited some beautiful Buddhist temples:

Wat Pha Sing Luang which dates from 1345.

Wat Chiang Man which was the first temple build in Chiang Mai

Wat Chedi Luang which is the site of an enormous pagoda. It was built in1400 and as partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1545. This temple has a great Naga (mythical serpent) staircase(this was the first of many Nagas we were to see.

We enjoyed a rickshaw ride along the quite streets of old Chiang Mai and then headed to the local Monk University for a Monk Chat and lecture on Buddhism.