Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival) of the Northeasterners in Phukhao Thong Subdistrict, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province is the only one tradition in the Southern part organized with a collective memory of migrants from the Northeastern part. The first rocket festival was in 1975 and the 38th festival was held in 2017. The festival is invented and reinvented activities in which Northeastern identities are used to decorate Bang Fai or rockets and included in the Bang Fai procession, Serng, a traditional quick-tempo dance and creation of Pha Daeng and Nang Ai representations in the ritual of fertility that is carried out to ask for less rain. The new generations of people have absorbed their being local Southerners so much that they forget their roots of being Northeasterners. Hence, the revival of Northeastern culture through Bun Bang Fai or the rocket festival is to raise awareness of love for hometown (the Northeastern part) with participation of the community through legends, beliefs, traditions, and the rituals of Bun Bang Fai.
Trang 1AWARENESS OF LOVE FOR HOMETOWN THROUGH BUN BANG FAI (ROCKET FESTIVAL) FROM COLLECTIVE MEMORY
OF NORTHEASTERNERS IN THE SOUTHERN BORDER AREA
OF THAILAND1
Assist Prof Dr Kettawa Boonprakarn
kettawa@hotmail.com Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla Province, Thailand
Assoc Prof Dr Punya Tepsing
punya.t@psu.ac.th Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla Province, Thailand
Jedsarid Sangkaphan
Sapichai@yahoo.com NetThai999 and Research, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Dr Triphum Treetreesuan
Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, Hatyai University, Songkhla, Thailand
Dr Suksawat Sirijarukul
Faculty of Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Thammanoon Boonprakarn
Chainat Technical College, Muang Chainat, Thailand
Aranya Tipauksorn
Ban Chumsang Primary School, Thung Sang Thong Sub-district, Nangrong District,
Burirum Province, Thailand Nuntharat Suriyo and Nunthiyarat Suriyo, Freelance Researcher
Abstract
Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival) of the Northeasterners in Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province is the only one tradition in the Southern part organized with a collective memory of migrants from the Northeastern part The first rocket festival was in 1975 and the 38 th festival was held in 2017 The festival is invented and reinvented activities in which Northeastern identities are used to decorate Bang Fai or rockets and included in the Bang Fai procession, Serng, a traditional quick-tempo dance and creation of Pha Daeng and Nang Ai representations in the ritual of fertility that is carried out to ask for less rain The new generations of people have absorbed their being local Southerners so much that they forget their roots of being Northeasterners Hence, the revival of Northeastern culture through Bun Bang Fai or the rocket festival is to raise awareness of love for hometown (the Northeastern part) with participation of the community through legends, beliefs, traditions, and the rituals of Bun Bang Fai
Keywords: Awareness of Love for Hometown, Bun Bang Fai, Rocket Festival,
Collective Memory, Isan Culture
1 THE ARTICLE IS A PART FROM TITLE ―ISAN CULTURAL IDENTITY MAINTENANCE IN THE SOUTHERN BORDER AREA: A CASE STUDY OF PHUKHAO THONG SUB-DISTRICT, SUKHIRIN DISTRICT, NARATHIWAT PROVINCE‖
Trang 21 Introduction
Northeasterners in Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province are a group of people migrating from the Northeastern part of Thailand since
1975 under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) supported project for the Department of Public Welfare The project invited people from the Northeastern part of the country to resettle in the Southern border area as one way to protect it Each family was allotted with
16 rai of land for agricultural activities and 2 rai for living These people still have
awareness of love for their Northeastern hometown and thus organize Bun Bang Fai
(Rocket Festival) regularly according to the legend and their beliefs to perform the same rituals as those in the Northeast The festival has become an important tradition and has
been called the only Bun Bang Fai in the Southern part of the country (Boonprakarn,
Thepsing and Sangkhaphan, 2017)
Bun Bang Fai of the Northeasterners held in the Southern border area is organized with
a collective memory of Northeasterners who moved to settle in the Southern part of the country and desire to create an atmosphere that resembles their hometown, to revive their being Northeasterners, and to instill in the younger generations awareness of love for their Northeastern hometown through practices in accordance to their legends, beliefs and traditions (Noi, interviewed on May 22, 2016) This corresponds with a study by Tanabe and Keyes (2002) which indicates that ―social memory‖ is a perception of the past through experience
of the individual‘s feeling and a new perception created from imagination of memories of the past and storytelling (Matsuda 1996 cited in Dikhunthot, 2006) Moreover, it was found that recall can take place through activities and rituals that construct relationships in the community (Tanthuwanit, 2015) to pass on the memories to the next generations According to Connerton (2006), the practices of the Northeasterners are bodily practices Even though the three Southern border provinces of Thailand are full of situations resulting
from the unrest, Bun Bang Fai is still held to inherit the memories and to make them congruent with the Northeastern Heet 12 or the 12 traditions of the 12 months of the year
(Srisuphan, Aphichatwanlop and Manorom, 2011) The festival helps reduce worry about violent situations in the three Southern border provinces and create awareness of history among the Northeasterners to make them love their roots and souls of being Northeasterners and never to forget it
This phenomenon prompted a question about the characteristics of the creation of
awareness of love for hometown through organizing Bun Bang Fai with a collective
memory of the Northeasterners in the Southern border area The reason for this is to make all generations of people in the area to mingle and do activities together so that they would love and have good feeling towards each other without limitations concerning race and religion Another reason is to preserve the traditions, culture, and rituals Furthermore, the results of the study would make the people love each other, have unity, know how to work together in a team, and help preserve the tradition so that it continues to exist in this new land the same way as it has always been in the Northeast, their hometown
Trang 32 Research methodology
The qualitative research method was employed Data were collected through
non-participant observation on Bun Bang Fai activities and through in-depth interviews with 9
informants consisting of community core leaders, folk wise men, and people in Phukhao
Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province who participated in Bun Bang Fai activities For data analysis, data were categorized, interpreted, concluded, and
presented with analytical description
3 Results
3.1 Creation of Bun Bang Fai identities for collective memory
Regarding knowledge in decorating the Bang Fai (rocket) float, people in
Phukhao Thong Sub-district learn and pass it down from generation to generation hoping that the Northeastern wisdom will be inherited in Phukhao Thong Sub-district,
Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province The Bun Bang Fai float in Phukhao Thong
Sub-district is full of the Northeastern atmosphere, and therefore, is part and a symbol
of Northeastern culture It is like the only thing that reminds people not to forget their
roots of who they are and where they are originally from Eh Bang Fai or decorations
of rocket floats for the procession in Phukhao Thong Sub-district can be divided into two categories: traditional and modified decorations (Pho Yai Bunterm, interviewed on June 8, 2016) detailed as follows
3.1.1 Northeastern identities through Bang Fai Eh decoration
Figure 1 Traditional decorated Bang Fai (rocket)
Source: Photo taken by the researchers on June 10
The decoration of the rocket float that retains traditional Northeastern identities is carried out by persons with artistic skills Some young people who are children of Northeasterners in Phukhao Thong Sub-district are artistically talented and this is considered fortunate for the village to have designers who can decorate the
Bang Fai float to resemble those in the Northeastern part of the country The
elongated rocket is placed on the roof of a pick-up truck with the front slanting up for
a dragon head to be put on Thus, the dragon is laid along to cover the rocket, and it looks like a slithering dragon
Trang 43.1.2 The mixed decorated Bang Fai float between Northeastern and Southern identities
Modified decoration of the Bang Fai float includes a traditional Southern Ruea Phra (Buddha image boat) in the cover of the slanting rocket on the roof of the pick-up
truck without a dragon head on it but a whole dragon is made and placed on the rocket People in the community dedicated their time and money to making the dragon The beauty and exquisiteness of the patterns and decorations of the float and the dragon are usually used as criteria in assessment of the procession In terms of creativity, the mixed decorations of the Southern cultural features in the rocket show cultural identities of the Northeastern community in Phukhao Thong which are different from those in the Northeastern part as reflected in the interviews
―Bang Fai floats here are not the same as those in the Northeast because we mix the features of Ruea Phra (Buddha image boat) in our Bang Fai float So we have our own
uniqueness.‖ (Kao, interviewed on June 9, 2017)
The mixed decorations of the float are derived from various factors Most designers
are Southerners For example, the decoration of the Bang Fai float of Ban Tomo village is
done by an art teacher from a school in Takbai District who is originally from Songkhla
Province He has designed and decorated Ruea Phra when he lived in Songkhla and now
he volunteers to help decorate the Bang Fai float every year without pay He said
―I have helped design Bang Fai floats many times because I feel attached to this
village When I see unity among people here, I would like to participate in it I don‘t want any pay I only want to help them inherit the tradition That‘s all (Akhom, interviewed on June 20, 2016)
The abovementioned phenomena reflect that even people from outside the
community want to help with Bun Bang Fai, and they bring with them their own culture, beliefs and ideas that have made changes in the identities of Bang Fai Eh This is a mix of
Northeastern and Southern cultural identities
Figure 2 Mixed decorated Bang Fai floats
Source: Photos taken by the researchers on June 10, 2016 Bun Bang Fai preparation takes approximately a month when people in the
community ranging from children to elderly people feel that they must help in making
Trang 5Bang Fai (rocket), decorating Bang Fai, practicing and rehearsing Serng dance because Bun Bang Fai (rocket festival) is a religious ceremony Everyone helps make different parts of Bang Fai and helps with other activities that are part of the festival so that when
the day comes, all will be completed, beautiful and ready for competition Villagers participate in planning, making decisions about the design, helping to make different parts
of Bang Fai Eh (decorated rocket) and Bang Fai Chut (ordinary rocket), and participate in
the procession Therefore, when the day of the festival draws near, they help work on everything almost all day and all night so that all will be ready in time This is considered
as wisdom transfer and creation of awareness of love for hometown
3.2 Creation of awareness of love for hometown through participation in decorating Bang Fai by people of all genders and ages
Decorating Bang Fai is such an event that is not less important than the Bang Fai
competition day Around one month before the event takes place, work is distributed and assigned The main person is the village headman who calls his team to plan and distribute the work, directs and coordinates the work Thus, the Northeastern atmosphere returns
even before the tradition of Bun Bang Fai begins Carving patterns from the Internet are selected and used to decorate Bang Fai They print the patterns to imitate and adapt to
make them suitable for the materials available in the village
A place for decorating the Bang Fai float is usually a place which is a center of the
village that is large enough for a pick-up truck to be parked with a large area for people to sit and do parts of the decoration together Elderly women and children sit around a pile of colorful paper and other materials to make garlands and other types of decorations When working together like this, they cook and eat together, and most dishes are native northeastern food.Northeastern music is played to raise awareness of being Northeasterners Men do handicraft such as carving patterns or lifting heavy items as evidenced in the following interview excerpt
―Decorations of the Bang Fai are changed each year We don‘t use old materials of
last year for this year because we want everyone to get together and work together This is
a way to raise the awareness of love for our hometown and not to forget our roots and home in the Northeast…‖ (Tee, interviewed on June 11, 2016)
Thus, decorating Bang Fai gives Northeasterners in Phukhao Thong activities to do together continuously to show their identities and raise awareness of love for their hometown in the Northeast and to stimulate or call back the spirit and soul of being Northeasterners
Trang 6
Figure 3 Adults and children making garlands, ornamental and decorative parts
Source: Photos taken by the researchers on June 10, 2016
Figure 4 People making ornamental and decorative parts of Bang Fai with banana
leave, bamboo, colorful paper and Styrofoam
Source: Photos taken by the researchers on June 9, 2016
3.3 Creating awareness of love for homeland through beliefs, legends and rituals
of Bun Bang Fai
In organizing the Bang Fai procession of Phukhao Thong Sub-district, the beliefs
and legends of Phaya Thaen, Phaya Khankhak (the King toad), Pha Daeng and Nang Ai play an important role the same way as they do in the Northeast These beliefs and legends are the origins of the tradition of asking for rain from the sky when the rainy season comes because the Northeast is a drought region The rain-asking ritual is performed according to
the beliefs In the ritual, a young woman and a young man sit on the Bang Fai float to
represent Pha Daeng (the man) and Nang Ai (the woman) to ask for rain However, Phukhao Thong is in the Southern part of the country located in a tropical region with a lot of rain and does not have to face drought; hence, the ritual in Phukhao Thong is not to ask for rain but to ask for less rain so that people can tap rubber trees as said in the following excerpt
―… In the Northeast, they hold Bun Bang Fai to pay respect to Phaya Thaen when
asking for rain We have a ceremony to make offer to him just like people in the Northeast
do but in our case we ask for less rain and for the rain to stop The village headman performs a ritual of planting lemongrass to stop the rain because if it rains during the festival, it will not be fun Well, it is to raise awareness of love for hometown through
Trang 7storytelling, especially about the legends so that the new generations know about it…‖ (Wanchai, interviewed on June 11, 2016)
The above phenomena reflect that the Northeasterners have brought their culture to
the South such as Bun Bang Fai, northeastern food, and the northeastern dialect which are
their social memories They raise the awareness of love for hometown through revival of being Northeasterners even though they have moved to the South for a long time as reflected in the excerpts below
―I know Pha Daeng and Nang Ai, and Phaya Thaen because my grandparents told
me about them Northeasterners including my parents have such beliefs So that‘s why we
have Bun Bang Fai This ceremony makes me think of the Northeast even though I haven‘t
been there I‘ve seen pictures of the festival and I feel attached to it…‖ (Jane, interviewed
on June 9, 2017)
―My parents speak the northeastern dialect and eat northeastern food Bun Bang Fai
is a fun festival and it makes me want to go to the Northeast I want to see my parents‘ hometown, to see what it looks like I do love being a northeastern child…‖ (Surachai, interviewed on June 10, 2017)
―I come to join Serng dancing, a dance with a northeastern tempo but mixed with
gestures of a southern dance where people pan for gold So the gestures of gold-panning
have been incorporated in Serng dancing I‘ve heard about many legends from by parents and I also see them in Bun Bang Fai They are in my blood, I guess…‖ (Kaeo, interviewed
on June 9, 2017)
Furthermore, it was found that the younger generations have beliefs about Pha Daeng and Nang Ai, Phaya Thaen and Phaya Khankhak through legends and rituals by
participating in Bun Bang Fai which make them feel attached to the land where their parents and grandparent are from They participate in Bang Fai procession by performing Klong Yao (long drums) and Serng dancing These are one way that people in this
sub-district create awareness of love for hometown and not to forget their roots and identities
as Northeasterners that might have faded away as time goes by
Discussion
Maintaining the identities of traditional decorations of Bang Fai is to inherit it
according to the northeastern tradition that reflects the selves of Northeasterners Creating the mixed identities incorporating southern identities and culture is a way of selecting traditions and rituals in a collective memory so that Northeasterners can recall their memories quickly and fun which help them forget hardships and dangers resulting from the unrest in the Southern area Recalling social memories among the Northeasterners in the Southern region requires creation of awareness of the ―motherland‖ which Srisak Walliphodom explains that wherever people are born, they must have awareness of that land (Phimthong, 2013) Therefore, people in Phukhao Thong Sub-district must select an important ritual which is a ritual of fertility to raise awareness of love for their hometown
to call out their souls and roots of being Northeasterners while not forgetting the Southern
Trang 8part where they live This is carried out through participatory learning using Bun Bang Fai
as a means
Creating awareness of love for hometown requires instilling it in the younger
generations by reproducing stories and legends through Bun Bang Fai that bring the
younger generations to join the older generations in doing activities together This is in agreement with a study by Connerton (1989 cited in Narasaj, 2010) which indicates that memories are something that are reproduced and passed on continuously in society through repeated practices, celebrations or other actions Therefore, to instill in the younger generations awareness of love for hometown, it is necessary to give importance to them and have them participate in all processes of activities including making the rocket,
decorating it, joining in Serng dancing in the procession, cooking northeastern dishes, and
speaking the northeastern dialect Similarly, Inpotha (2011) on mentioning Srisak Walliphodom states that ―Local history must be created by local people and transferred to and instilled in children because when children have enough knowledge about their local history to transfer to others, it is considered a type of group learning.‖ In the dimension of cultural life, people from outside can see only artistic objects, traditions, patterns but they cannot see the relationships that these things have with people; and they cannot see movements Children can learn about cultural life from their parents and grandparents as they begin to learn about it from learning about themselves and their way of life In addition to their own parents and grandparents, elderly people in the community are the best persons who can transfer cultural life to children As a result, there are close relationships among people in the community Elderly people are happy to tell children about the stories in the past while exchanging knowledge and learning about local socio-culture that they have come to love and eventually become aware of the love they have for their hometown
References
1 Boonprakarn, K., Thepsing, P and Sangkhaphan, J (2017) Defining the Meaning of Bang Fai Chut and the Existence of Cultural Identities of Northeasterners in Bun Bang Fai Tradition in Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat
Province, the Only One in the South In the 4 th NEU National and International Conference 2017, North Eastern University, July 21, 2017 (pp 1479-1490) Khon Kaen:
North Eastern University
2 Connerton, P (1989) How Societies Remember Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
3 Connerton, P (2006) “Social Memory”, How Societies Remember
Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, pp 6-40
4 Dikhunthot, B (2006, January) Herione or Woodland Goddess: Fighting and
Memory of Thao Suranaree, Nakhon Ratchasima In Document for the 10 th Graduate Seminar on Tai Studies Mahasarakham: Mahasarakham University
5 Inpotha, P (2011) The Local Museum by Local People for Local People Isra News Retrieved March 20, 2018, from: https://www.isranews.org/isranews-scoop.html
Trang 96 Narasaj, B (2010, May-August) Remembering the Past in Heritage Studies:
A Preliminary Survey Journal of Mekong Studies, 6(2) 27-51
7 Phimthong, N (2013) A summary of "Junior Tour Guides on Awareness of Love for Hometown, Lek-Prapai Viriyahpant Foundation Retrieved March 25, 2018, from:
http://lek-prapai.org/home/view.php?id=1012
8 Shigeharu, T & Keyes, C F (2002) Cultural Crisis and Social Memory: Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos (pp.1-39) London: Routledge Curzon
9 Srisuphan, P., Aphichatwanlop, Y., & Manorom, K (2011, May-August) Demolished to Create a Tradition: Changes of Bun Bang Fai in the Age of Globalization
Journal of Mekong Studies, 7(2), 27-48
10 Tanthuwanit, N (2015) Memory and Political Awareness Retrieved May 5,
2015, from: http://v1 midnightuniv.org/midculture44/newpage6.html
11 Interviewees
12 Noi, interviewed on May 22, 2016 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
13 Pho Yai Bunterm, interviewed on June 8, 2016 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
14 Kao, interviewed on June 9, 2017 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
15 Akhom, interviewed on June 20, 2016 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
16 Tee, interviewed on June 11, 2016 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
17 Wanchai, interviewed on June 11, 2016 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
18 Jane, interviewed on June 9, 2017 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
19 Surachai, interviewed on June 10, 2017 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province
20 Kaeo, interviewed on June 9, 2017 Phukhao Thong Sub-district, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province