Narrative and Narration of Nora from Memories of Communities in the Lower Songkhla Lake Basin

Abstract

 The objectives of this research were to study the narratives of Nora to present narrative printings of Nora from the memories of people living in the communities in the Lower Songkhla Lake Basin. In this qualitative
research, the field data were mainly gathered in two communities—Tha Jeen Community and Wat Ku Tao Community—in the Lower Songkhla Lake Basin from the 3 main group, a total of 58 people, through observation,
interview, and participatory mappings. The concepts used to analyze the data was narratives and collective memories, together with Nora paintings through the concept of creative painting. The research findings indicated that the narratives of Nora from the memories of people in Tha Jeen
Community had relationships with a belief called Tuad (great-grandparents) while the narratives told by people in Wat Ku Tao Community were Nora Competition (Nora Prachan Rong), which was mainly aimed at entertainment. When these two narratives were analyzed and compared, it reflected that Nora was performed according to their beliefs and ceremonies happening in people’s everyday life; therefore, Nora performances are sustainable rather than only for entertainment. In addition, the memories of Nora narrative paintings have been applied to record concrete memories of people living in the Lower Songkhla Lake Basin onwards.