Sriwittayapaknam School culture in Thailand

Culture in Thai school is not different than any other school around the world. Some of the captivating cultures of Thai school help to make some challenging differences. Some of the simple rules can be mentioned as shoes are not allowed within the school premises. In the annual Wai Kru Ceremony all the students should bow down to their teachers just to show respect towards them. Sriwittayapaknam School, which is commonly known as Srinai, is located in the Samut Prakan City. This school is located at the distance of about 35 kms south of Bangkok. From the sixth floor of this school big container ships can be seen that are heading up the Chao Phraya River to the port in Bangkok. There is no sea at the vicinity so swimming is not possible there.

In Thailand, in most of the schools there are two semester exams. Usually there is no mid term breaks. 180-200 teaching days are there in every year. First term starts in May first week and it continues till October first week. The second term starts at November first week. As because Buddhism prevails in Thailand, there is no Christmas leave. At New Year’s time, four to five days leave are there. Second term finishes at February end or March first week. After that the students get two long months summer vacation. The month of April can be recorded as the hottest month and only 70% of students attend school at that time.

In Thailand, some of the teachers and students reach school very early sometimes even before 6 a.m. If the parents of some students are working in Bangkok, he or she reaches school early. The others reach school 7 or 7.30 a.m. The national anthem starts at 8 a.m. and all should be present by that time. Lunch break for kinder garden starts at 10.15 a.m. junior students get lunch break at 11 a.m. while seniors get at 11.30. Most of students go home by 4.45 p.m. The last students are generally picked up by parents by 6 p.m. at the latest.

Thailand Holidays

In Thailand you can enjoy some exciting festivals. The festivals are really colorful and spread liveliness everywhere. Sometimes visitors specially come to Thailand to be a part of its festivals. But one thing should be kept in mind that at these times the hotel accommodation can be little costly. So, in this case you can take the help of the websites and do your booking in advance. Various festivals are there out of which some are randomly selected and mentioned below:

Wat Phra Si Sanphet: This festival is celebrated in Ayutthaya. In Thailand most of the festivals are related to Buddhism and the monarchy. This is one of them. Except for some banks nobody celebrates all of them.

Chinese New Year: This Chinese New Year is celebrated by Chinese Thais. They are numerous in Bangkok. They celebrate this festival by cleaning their houses. They also offer food to their ancestors during this festival. Feasts take an important part in this festival. Everywhere you will see merrymaking. If you are visiting Bangkok’s Chinatown or Yaowarat, you can have the idea of real festivity.

Makha Bucha: This festival in Thailand falls on the full moon of the fourth Lunar month. Usually this falls in February or March. During this festival nearly 1250 followers venerate in front of the Buddha. This eventually leads to their ordination and subsequent nirvana i.e. enlightenment. Buddhists carry candles at temples in Bangkok and throughout Thailand. They also walk around the main shrine three times in a clockwise direction. People in Thailand are very religious and they show this nature during this festival.

The King’s Birthday: King’s Birthday is celebrated on December fifth. This is known as Thailand’s National Day which is also celebrated as Father’s Day. During this time you will find all the buildings and homes are properly decorated with the king’s flag. Around the Royal palace in old Bangkok, you can see some lighting on trees, roads and buildings. You will see happy faces everywhere in the city at this time. The Queen’s Birthday i.e. Mother’s Day is celebrated on August 12 in the same way with great pomp.

Widely spread Thai Culture

Thai culture has wide spread popularity for which people from different parts of the globe come to spend some quality time here in this city. Thai people have rich culture where they show etiquette, respect towards elder person of the society and women, different festivals, etc. Some of the popular aspects of Thai culture are discussed below.

Traditional Thai Music: Traditional Thai music is a mixture of musical elements. The blending has been done with the help of Khmer, Chinese, and especially Indian. The instruments as well as melodies are included in the same list. And these are the reason why Thai music can also be called as derivative. Despite all these facts Thai music has emerged with its distinct form and thus it belongs to the musical ethnicity of South East Asia.

Likay: Likay was considered as originated from Muslim religious performances. Thai people adopted this and over a period of time this has become a comedy folk art. Common people enjoy it in accordance with singing and also dancing. Now a day likay is used to help in political moves. They incorporate political corresponds to their repertoires. In Bangkok, people don’t regard this likay as sophisticated but recently this has gained enough recognition and established itself as an art form.

Khon: Khon is one of the famous cultural shows in Thailand. Khon is actually masked drama that is widely enjoyed. This was first evolved in Siam. The route can be found somewhere in the folk dances of the rural areas of the country. The performers of this art form dress colorfully at the time of performance. They wear jeweled costumes. Men wear masks while women wear gold head dresses. Music can be enjoyed along with dances while songs and dialog are performed by an chorus.

Shadow Puppet Plays: Shadow puppetry is rarely seen in Thailand now a day. In south shadow puppetry is known as ‘Nang Yai’ and ‘Nang Thalung’. The later one is the more popular. Here the puppets are crafted from cow hide. Strings are usually attached to the puppets for movements. Music and dialogues accompany with the puppet dance. The dialogues are mostly comical. These days ‘Nang Yai’ has become uncommon. In this art form the puppets are larger in size than those of the other one ‘Nang Thalung’.