Women's Textiles & Men's Crafts in Thai Culture
A woman weaves at a loom under her house in Baan Chaan Laan, Ubon Ratchathani Province. Photo by H. Leedom Lefferts
by H. Leedom Lefferts Thai embodies styles from many historical and contemporary sources and signifies the variety of nder many houses in Thailand today, es identities contemporary Thais adopt. Some outfits pecially in the Northeast (Isaan), even in are ethnic, such as the indigo-dyed, striped phaa U this era of ready-made clothing, stand sin of the Lao Song of the western Central Plains. looms. The values associated with the production Other styles indicate an individual's occupation. and disphly of beautiful textiles pervade Thai Many large corporations, such as banks, require culture. women and men to wear a uniform based on As in all cultures, dressing a certain way signi European design, which may vary according to fies putting on a particular identity. The clothing the day of the week. Thai civil servants, including worn by Thai men and women is related to gen college professors, also have such uniforms. Most der, age, and locale. In villages, women usually importantly, King Bhumibol, Queen Sirikit, and wear the phaa sin, a tubular, wrap-around skirt; other members of the royal family wear an array their upper garment is a loose T -shirt or blouse. of uniforms and formal and informal dress based But younger women today often wear the interna on European fashion. tional style of jeans and shirts. When doing man The Thai "traditional" style of clothing has uallabor, women may don phaa sin or pants and always been varied and subject to change. Royal long-sleeved shirts, often with a hat and head dress has been influenced by the prevailing fash scarf to protect against sun and wind. ions of powerful trading partners. Indian textiles, Men usually wear Euro-American-styled pants for example, appear regularly in illustrations and and shirts. However, in private- in villages and descriptions by early European visitors. But styles even in cosmopolitan Bangkok - men often wear can move in two directions. A delegation of Thai the phaa sarong, a tubular, wrap-around skirt ambassadors to the French court in the 1600s with a plaid design secured with a twisted knot in brought such glamorous textiles to Paris that a the male style. Women tie their phaa sin by mak new fashion began there. ing a flap and tucking this securely into the Royal dress has also influenced the attire of skirt's waistband. Thai common people. M.R. Kukrit Pramoj's Clothing in a culture as complex as that of the famous semifictional chronicle of Four Reigns,
FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLIFE THAILAND 43 covering the period from approximately 1870 to textiles through the well-known Chitralada 1950, notes that the marriage of a princess from shops. the northern kingdom of Chiang Mai to the Textiles are important in Thai culture other Bangkok king influenced fashionable women to than as dress. Before there were chemical paints adopt the tubular phaa sin. Previously, the pre to decorate houses, textiles were often used to vailing Bangkok style was the phaa chong hraben, beautify a structure for a ceremony. Colorfully in which the ends of the long hip wrapper are patterned door curtains shielded rooms from twisted together, tucked backwards between the inquiring glances. Cloth also can be used to tie legs, and folded between the wrapper and the something up, to properly and ceremonially small of the back. Today in Thailand, only elderly "dress" it. Thai textiles convey religious meanings in funerals and monastic ceremonies. Village weav ing stops for a day when a death is announced; weaving indicates the continuation of life, inter rupted at death. Banners, sometimes several meters long, memorialize deceased loved ones and may be flown on monastery grounds on the day when the Vessantara Jataka is read; the monastery simulates a luxurious palace to cele brate the life of the penultimate Buddha. Pro cessed yarn and completed monks' robes may be donated to monks during a funeral, bringing merit to the deceased and to the mourners.
TEXTILES As WoMEN's WoRK Textile production as women's work in Thai cul ture, as in most of Southeast Asia, creates a wealth of connotations. Weaving is a sign that a young woman is reaching adult status by gaining Bride and groom present cloth gifts to women the ability to provide for the textile requirements relatives of the groom in Baan Hua Chang, Maha of a household. Because women control the giv Sarahham Province. Photo by H. Leedom Lefferts ing of textiles to monks, fathers, husbands, sons, and daughters, they actively participate in and in rural women in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) some sense control the establishment of localized Province, members of the Thai Korat ethnic Thai social systems. group, continue to wear phaa chong hraben. At marriage, a bride normally presents gifts of M.R. Kukrit also notes that, at the beginning of cloth to her husband's mother, father, and other World War II, the prime minister, Field Marshal close relatives. In Northeast Thai villages, I have Phibun Songkhram, promulgated several rules seen presentations of silk phaa sin and shoulder regarding attire. These included injunctions that cloths and cotton pillows and stuffed mattresses. shoes must be worn in cities, men must wear At elite weddings in Bangkok, a bride may pre pants, women must let their hair grow (the pre sent expensive Gucci towels. These presentations vailing Central Thai style was short hair), and, affirm women as providers and organizers of the especially, women must wear hats. This code pre Thai domestic scene. scribed proper attire for a country aspiring to The role of women in Thai culture extends developed status. Appropriate dress publicized much further than providing a properly managed and personified his strategy for development. home. When a son reaches age 20, he may Today, in a reversal of the reliance on foreign become a monk for the three-month period of the textiles, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit has developed Rains Retreat, from mid-July through mid-Octo a program to preserve and encourage Thai home ber. Young men who become monks say they do production. Her SUPPORT Foundation assists this for their parents, especially their mothers, to local weavers, while Her Majesty consciously whom they can transfer merit made during this influences fashion by publicly wearing locally period. Three of the eight requisites which a produced fabrics and promoting the sale of these young man must possess in order to enter the
44 THAILAND FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKUFE monkhood involve a set of robes. While today A man in a silk phaa sarong and shoulder cloth these robes are usually bought in a market, they presents alms to monks in Baan Dong Phong, Khan are still given formally by a mother to her son. Kaen Province. Photo by H. Leedom Lefferts These examples show that textiles produced by women perpetuate the Thai social system by bamboo into baskets. Before marriage, young properly dressing household and family. men and women often gave each other presents. Moreover, the presentation of textiles establishes Women usually gave gifts made of cloth. Men the standing of those who embody important gave baskets and presented han maak, wooden or social values in Thai culture. lacquered footed trays in which a woman would keep material for chewing betel. Recently, a curio MEN'S CRAFTS market in old betel nut boxes has emerged, but In traditional Thai culture women's textiles com once in a while one finds an elderly woman sav plemented men's crafts. And as women's weaving ing a box that her husband gave her when they production has dwindled because of the availabil became engaged. ity of factory-produced items and the possibility Several older village monasteries and many of wage employment outside of home and village, provincial cultural centers now collect and pre traditional men's crafts have declined for similar serve wooden Buddha statues carved by monks in reasons. However, crafts are still important in earlier days. These had often been discarded as certain contexts and illustrate the dynamic bal new, glossy, mass-produced images became avail ance that existed between men and women in able, but increasingly, with the encouragement of preindustrial Thai culture. the royal family and government, Thai rural peo Men engaged in crafts that women usually did ple are becoming aware of the social value of not, those related to wood and bamboo: building their craft heritage. houses, carving statues and containers, producing Certain religious festivals conserve craft tradi gunpowder and making fireworks, and "weaving" tions that might otherwise have become lost. For
FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLIFE THAILAND 45 example, Bun Katin, the festival in the month fol of the pleasure it affords them. lowing the end of the Rains Retreat during which Complementarity between women's household new robes and other necessary goods are present organization and textile production and men's ed to monks, often requires the production of monkhood and craft production continues and several kinds of baskets that appropriately con appears fundamental to Thai gender construction. tain these gifts. The New Year's Ceremony, in Each gender has its goals of providing for partic which a village renews itself and wards off mis ular cultural and social necessities. fortune, also may see the production of baskets to carry objects as gifts or for presentation to the SuGGESTED READINGS monastery. Bowie, Katherine. 1992. Unravelling the Myth of the The production and use of textiles were major Subsistence Economy: Textile Production in parts of women's economic and symbolic roles in Nineteenth-Century Northern Thailand. journal of Asian Studies 51(4):797-823. premodern Thai culture. Textiles signified wom en's power to control a complex technology and Conway, Susan. 1992. Thai Textiles. London: The British Museum. to define others by presentation of the objects necessary in Thai society. In spite of the inroads Gittinger, Mattiebelle, and H. Leedom Lefferts, Jr. made by factory-produced textiles, a number of 1992. Textiles and the T'ai Experience in Southeast Asia. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum. expert weavers continue production. Some con tinue weaving to make money, others weave to Lefferts, H. Leedom, Jr. 1992. Cut and Sewn: The have gifts to present at appropriate times, and Textiles of Social Organization In Thailand. In The Anthropology of Dress and Gender, edited by I.R. still others produce beautiful cloth solely because Barnes andj.D. Eicher. New York: Berg.
H. Leedom Lefferts is professor of anthropology, Drew Naenna, Patricia (Cheesman). 1982. The Antique Weavings of the Lao Neua. Arts of Asia, 12(4):120- University, Madison, New jersey. He has conducted 25 . fieldwork in Thailand since 1970. His interest in tex tiles and village crafts began when he observed the __. 1988. Lao Textiles: Ancient Symbols- Living Art Bangkok: White Lotus, Co., Ltd. importance of such work in the lives of Northeast Thai women. He co-authored the catalog and was associate Naenna, Patricia (Cheesman), and Songsak curator of the international exhibition, "Textiles and Prangwatthanakun. 1987. Phaa Lanna (LanNa Textiles): Yuan, Lu, Lao. Chiang Mai, Thailand: the T'ai Experience in Southeast Asia," organized by Chiang Mai University and Honolulu: The The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. University of Hawaii Press.
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