AGRICULTURAL BELIEFS OF THE THAI PEOPLE IN LAI CHAU

Abstract

Lai Chau is a border province in the northwest of the country, inhabited by a large Thai ethnic group. Over hundreds of years of living and productive labor, the Thai people's agricultural beliefs have created unique and distinctive cultural features. Using statistical methods, document analysis, actual observation methods, ethnographic fieldwork, social investigation..., the article has clarified the beliefs Thai people's agricultural threshold through objects of worship. The research results show that the agricultural beliefs of the people are expressed through objects of worship (God of agriculture, gods protecting crops, rice souls, livestock and crop souls); through rituals according to the seasonal cycle and the holiday cycle (field going down ceremony, firelight welcoming ceremony in the air, rejuvenation ceremony, ha ha hau ceremony, new rice ceremony, Kin Khau hot pot ceremony, Bon Fried New Year...); through the agricultural festival which is extremely rich and famous... Thereby, this study contributes to highlighting the spiritual life characteristic of the agricultural culture of the Thai people in general and those in Lai Chau province in particular.