Chapter 7 Chak-Ka-Yer: Traditional Tug- Of-War of Thailand
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Chapter 7 Chak-Ka-Yer: Traditional Tug- of-War of Thailand Chuchchai Gomaratut Associate Professor, Faculty of Sports Science, Chulalongkorn University National Committee of Promoting and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of Thailand Somporn Gomaratut Assistant Professor Dr., Faculty of Arts, Dhurakit Pundit University 80 Chapter 7 Chak-Ka-Yer: Traditional Tug-of-War of Thailand hak-ka-yer is a Thai word similar in meaning to tug-of-war in western countries. It is one of the oldest folk team games in Thailand. Thai people across the country know chak-ka-yer, and many may have had some direct and indirect experience with this game, either as participants or observ- Cers. Chak-ka-yer benefits Thai society in several ways. People use chak-ka-yer for fun, pleasure, recreation, and relaxation from their routine work. Chak-ka-yer is played between teams, groups, or communities to test their physical strength. The game does not focus on competition, team preparation, contest regulations, and championship, but rather on unity, friendship, morale, and incentive of communities. Chak-ka-yer as a game is related to thoughts, beliefs, customs, traditions, rituals, and values of the people in different areas. Chak-ka-yer is a high-level game of development and doesn’t focus on systematic contests; it has specific agency to respond to and has the team seriously trained and practiced to win the championship. Chak-ka-yer as a sport is left unmentioned in this article since it has become an international sport. MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE Chak-ka-yer is a game with two teams trying to tug and hold the middle point of a rope in their own area (The Royal Institute, 1982).Chak means to pull or to tug, and yer means to pull back and forth. In a tug-of-war, the word “pulling” has a clear mean- ing, which refers to the manner of pulling and tugging back and forth with hands and arms, and it is the same as the chak-ka-yer in Thailand. Chak-ka-yer © Since Thailand is rich in identical folk plays and games, it also has similar games, Chuchchai Gomaratut such as dan-sao (to push the rod), yae-long-ruu (a ground lizard running into its hole), Chuchchai Gomaratut & Somporn Gomaratut 81 yaeng-mueang (to attack the town), and others in which the game focuses on pushing, not pulling, with hands or arms. Those games are not included in this study because the methods of playing are different from the tug-of-war. Chak-ka-yer is treated as both a play and a game throughout Thailand. Its name and playing method varies from place to place, but the basic playing method is similar. In the eastern zone of the central plain is chak-ka-yer-kwian (to tug the cart) in which a cart is set at the middle and both teams try to tug the cart into their own side to win. In some areas in the north, there is sak-sao (to pull the rod) in which a bamboo rod is used instead of a rope, and it is usually played under a high-floored-house. In some areas in the northeast, there is dueng-nang (to pull a leather rope) in which a leather rope is used instead of a hemp rope. There is also chak-cha in which a male team competes against a female team and the losing team dances while approaching the winner, and the winner sings for their dance. Other forms include dueng-khrok (to pull the mortar) in which a mortar is placed in the middle and both teams try to tug the mortar into their own side to win and chak-ka-yer-khon-kap-chang (to tug between human and elephant). In some areas in the south, there is chak-saow in which a short stick is used instead of a rope; a representative of each team holds each end of the stick, and the others hold the waist of one another in the team and then start to tug. The losing team is the one that loses grip of the stick. There is also a game between humans and a vehicle called ruea-phra (a boat enshrined with a Buddha image) in which people participate to pull a boat called chak-phra or laak-phra (to pull the Buddha image). Chak-ka-yer is usually played for fun or recreation in annual auspicious events or festivals. It is also played traditionally to create unity, friendship, and good relations among folk people in communities or inter-communities and to understand different genders, between a men’s team and a women’s team. Above all, chak-ka-yer is closely related to thoughts, beliefs, traditions, customs, rituals, and values concerning the way of life of the local people. For example, chak-ka-yer in most regions is related to Buddhist rituals. In some areas, it is related to agriculture, especially during the farm- ing and harvesting periods, and it is also related to the way of life in transportation or moving heavy objects, such as towing a boat or a cart enshrined with a Buddha image and logging. In the past, there were chak-ka-yer activities to improve physical and mental efficiency and competing physical strength in school sports annually. At present, some people developed chak-ka-yer into the international sport system, but the essence of chak-ka-yer as an international sport seems to lack relation to thoughts, beliefs, traditions, customs, rituals, and values concerning the way of life of the local people. The international chak-ka-yer focuses on training and practicing for excellence. Chak-ka-yer is usually arranged for the Songkran Festival or the traditional Thai New Year festival in mid-April, the End of the Rain Retreat, City Annual Fair, the King’s Birthday Celebration, New Year’s Day, and other festive events. Chak-ka-yer players may be children, adults, or seniors. The activity can be arranged for fun or for competition among people of the same gender or age or of different gender and age. In the competition between players of different genders; the women’s team usually has more members than the men’s team. When the game is over, the loser dances according to the rhythm of local songs to entertain the winner and at the same time they joyfully tease one another. BACKGROUND Documents and interviews with locals found that beliefs concerning the origins of chak-ka-yer can be classified into two main ideas. One is that chak-ka-yer imitated the way of life of the people in ancient times. At that time, the country was full of dense forest, mountains, valleys, and rough roads. Transportation was not comfortable, 82 Chapter 7 Chak-Ka-Yer: Traditional Tug-of-War of Thailand mostly carts towed by buffaloes, bulls, horses, or elephants. Elephants were also used in logging by tying the log with one end of a rope and tying the other end around the elephant’s neck to tow logs. The manners of towing, tugging, and pulling the animals were challenging, and then the people adapted those manners into chak-ka-yer. Another idea is that chak-ka-yer originated from the thoughts, beliefs, traditions, customs, rituals, and values concerning people’s way of life related to Buddhism. Chak- ka-yer developed into a Buddha image procession festival. In the procession, a Buddha image was enshrined on a beautifully decorated cart, and the cart was tied to one end of a rope or rod and the other end was left for people to tow or pull. The cart was towed throughout the community to let people pay respect to the Buddha image on the cart. This ceremony was called the Chak-Phra Festival (Towing the Buddha Image Festival). This festival has been practiced in southern provinces of Thailand. In some eastern areas of the country, there was a similar festival, but it was different in details. A dec- orated cart was enshrined with four Buddha footprints in his four existences printed on cloth, and the cart was towed around the town or village. There are no documents to certify when chak-ka-yer started, but it is believed that it started during the Sukhothai period (1238–1438). In Thai literature, a work called Khun Chang Khun Phaen documents that there was a chak-ka-yer in the late Ayutthaya period, around 1757 (Department of Fine Arts, 1970). Also in 1897, a chak-ka-yer com- petition was held in the first school athletic games of the Department of Education under the reign of King Rama V of Rattanakosin period (Sawasdi Lekhayanon, 1971). In 1900, the Department of Education gave a trophy with the school name engraved on it for the chak-ka-yer game. This indicates that chak-ka-yer was a popular sport at that time. Today, chak-ka-yer remains popular, and it is included in the main activ- ity of the smallest unit in the country administration, a village. Almost every village arranges a chak-ka-yer game during festivals or festive events. Chak-ka-yer is still played throughout the country. However, the essence of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage related to the thoughts, beliefs, traditions, customs, rituals, and values is fading. This correlates with the opinion of an expert in traditional Thai sports, Associate Professor Fong Kerdkaew (1977), who said, “Cultural heritage of traditional Thai sports, especially the cultural values of chak-ka-yer seems to be disappearing from the heart and mind of Thai people.” At the same time, a field survey reveals that chak-ka-yer is well preserved and transferred in spite of the influence of globalization, IT mania, materialism, and international culturalism.