Representation of “Trang Identities” through the Buddha-image Procession Festival in Trang Province

Abstract

          This article aims to analyse “Trang identities” presented through Buddha-image barges, namely ruea phra in Thai, at the Buddha-image Precession Festival, the so-called lak phra festival found throughout the Southern Thai region, in Trang Province. Fieldwork documents were gathered from the 19th annual Buddha-image procession festival from 11th-19th October 2022, which was held in Thung Chaeng outdoor stadium, by participant observation and informal interviews along with online data, published documents, Thailand’s national archives and relevant fieldwork data. Concepts of identity used in anthropological and folklore studies are applied in the study, as well. 

          As the results, it is revealed that there were 72 barges (actually the by-land vehicles which resemble the barges used for this festive procession in the old days) from temples, monasteries and meditation retreats that participated in the 19th festival; all depicted the two main events in the Buddha’s biography – 1) the descent from heaven named Tavatinmsa where resided the Buddha’s mother, Queen Siri Maha Maya who reincarnated as a male deva after her maternal death and 2) the mythical demonstration of all worldly spheres, which were the upper worlds (both the 6 sub-spheres of heaven where dwelled the devas and the 16 paradisical sub-spheres of Brahma deities, human world and netherworld including the hell, the world of the unpleasant demonic creatures and the world of hungry ghosts). Through all the bargelike vehicles, there were two types of Trang identity representation – Trang Province as the land of strictly-behaved Buddhism constructed by the government sectors and as the land of monarchical loyalty, fertility and happiness shown by local people themselves. The study, thus, manifests the establishment and representation of identities in contemporary Thai society.