Thai Culture

Thailand is located at the meeting point of the two great cultural systems of Asia, Chinese and Indian. In everyday life, Chinese culture has mixed very well with the Thai.  India has had a very strong influence to the Thai court culture, which has been based mainly on Buddhism and Brahmanism. 

Thai culture evolves largely around Buddhism and respect for seniority, whether in terms of age, status or wealth. However, monks receive absolute deference and it is common to see healthy young monks sitting on buses while elderly passengers stand. Seniority has different forms: younger people respect elders, the poor look up to the rich, and common citizens defer to politicians and high ranking military personnel. Seniority in years is sometimes unclear, so Thais often ask a person's age. With seniority established, the older person may address the younger as nong, and the younger person may address the older as pii.

Thai culture can be divided into 3 aspects: linguistic culture, court culture, and traditional culture.

• Linguistic Culture
  The Thai language, or Phasa Thai, basically consists of monosyllable words, whose meanings are complete by them selves. Its alphabet was created by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great in 1283 by modeling it on the ancient Indian alphabets of Sanskrit and Pali through the medium of the old Khmer characters. After a history of over 700 years, the Thai alphabet today comprises 44 constantans, representing 20 consonant phonemes, and 15 vowel signs, denoting 22 vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs.   As Thai is a tonal language with five different tones, it often confuses foreigners who are unused to this kind of language.  Like most languages of the world, the Thai language is a complicated mixture of several sources. Many Thai words used today were derived from Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer, Malay, English and Chinese.
  
  
• Court Culture
  Court culture refers to the conception of beauty, perfection and harmony in the fine arts, including painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, drama and music. In the old days most of these originated in or received the patronage of the royal court and nobility. Most of the works served the Buddhist religion. Their styles were influenced by the Indians through the Mons and Khmers, and then were blended and developed in unique forms recognized as Thai.
  
  
• Traditional Culture
  By traditional culture we mean customs concerning agriculture and human relations, and the art of making daily necessities such as utensils, clothing and basketry.  The basis of the Thai customs and traditions lies in the family, whose structure is of bilateral descent. Like the Chinese and some other Asian peoples, the young are taught to pay respect to and follow the admonitions of parents, elders, teachers and Buddhist monks who, in the old days, formed a highly educated class.