A Study of the Sixth Month Mores of the Tai Lao Ethnic Group in the Kingdom of Thailand and the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Abstract

This research entitled study of the sixth month mores of Thi-Lao ethnic groups in the Kingdom of Thailand and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) aimed to study the sixth month mores for rehabilitating cultural ecologies and public health village models in the Kingdom of Thailand and Lao PDR. This research used the ethnographic research methodology according to Clifford Geertz. The data were collected using: 1) participatory observation. 2) In-depth interviews in both Thai people in Northeastern Thailand and Lao people in Lao PDR. The target groups were selected by purposive sampling from village leaders, local wisdom experts general people in Yasothon province in the Kingdom of Thailand with the total of 25 people, and in Savannakhet province in Lao PDR with the total number of 25 people, during 2018 – 2021. The results found that Bangfai (Thai firework) is an invention created for the causal factors of physical laws change in the sixth month in both biological laws and the psychic laws relating to folklore. In this research, they were overall called the sixth month mores or the sixth month Heet, including natural law relating to Idappaccayata ethics (specific conditionality ethics), balanced natural law and natural law of opponent. The sixth month mores is connected to physical laws and psychic laws (spirit), empirically showed the causal factors among soil, water, fire, wind, air, sky, cloud, fog, rain, plant and spirit, the time point of embarking life related to natural laws (the five aspects of natural law). The rehabilitation of cultural ecologies, food and medicine productions for public health should rely on Buddhist moral principles in Anguttara Nikaya defining that karma is like rice field, spirit is like paddy, desire is like rice lactescent. These meant that 1) communities having goodness with sincere precepts in the sixth month mores infer to good atmosphere and rice fields, which rice is like growth rice, and 2) sky and rain are important to agricultural communities. Also, there should be the value trend for posing the temples being the activities centers of Heet Kong using the indicator of the 5 precept village in order to raise governing efficiency. For public health, the should be the rehabilitation of healthy local foods for communities having good health.