Creation of Learning and Tourism Areas through Community Arts and Cultural Stories on the Carved Ubosot Gates of Siri Mongkhon Temple, Ban Ahee, Tha Li District, Loei Province

Abstract

This research was conducted using the qualitative research methodology aiming to: 1) study the context of Siri Mongkol temple in Ahee Village, Tha Li District, Loei Province; and 2) to study the creation of cultural arts areas on carved ubosot gates of Siri Mongkol temple, Tha Li District, Loei province. The target group for collecting data were 13 informants who were knowledgeable people and workers. Unstructured interviews and focus groups were the research tools for collecting data, and content analysis was used for analyzing the data. The results were as follows: 1) Siri Mongkol temple was built around 1741. The former name was Wat Sop Ngeon. This temple was used for Buddhist and community activities and a tourism management area because there were a lot of valuable tourism resources in the temple area and community such as the Nak Prok Buddha image, Ma Nao Diew temple, and the carved gate of the ubosot narrating the story of community cultural arts and the history of the Lord Buddha. 2) The creation of the cultural arts area included a floral procession tradition, the Seng Klong tradition, the Liang Ban ceremony, and the community’s valuable sixth-month merit making ceremony carved on the gate of the ubosot which needed to be permitted by the committee of the temple and the village in order to link the stories with Buddhist arts by searching for the position and setting of the stories with appropriateness and the uniqueness of Ahee village to create high-relief to record the stories and to be used as a learning center and the medium of the community’s tourism management.