THAI FUNERAL RITE RITUAL PROCESS TO CREATE a NEW LIFE FOR THE DEAD (THAI FUNERAL IN PHU YEN, SON LA)

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES LO XUAN DUA THAI FUNERAL RITE: RITUAL PROCESS TO CREATE A NEW LIFE FOR THE DEAD (THAI FUNERAL IN PHU YEN, SON LA) Major: Folklore Major code: 62 22 01 30 SUMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IN CULTURAL STUDIES Ha Noi 2016 THE DISSERTATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED AT GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Supervisors: Hoang Cam, Ph.D Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham, PhD Associ.Prof Reviewer 1: Lâm Bá Nam , PhD Associ.Prof Reviewer 2: Hoàng Nam, PhD., Prof Reviewer 3: Võ Quang Trọng, PhD Associ.Prof The Dissertation shall be uphold before the Examiner’s Board Meeting hold at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences on …………… 2016 The dissertation is available for reference at: - The National Library; - The Library of Social Sciences LIST OF THE AUTHOR’S PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION “Worship rites and worship places in the religious beliefs of the Thai people in Phu Yen, Son La”, the Folklore Magazine, Edition 4, Pages 77-83 Sip Xi Tet of the Thai people in Phu Yen, printed in Traditional custom of Thai, Tay and Nung ethnic minorities, the Folklore Magazine, H 3.Some life cycle rites of the Thai people in Phu Yen, Son La, financed by Vietnam Association of Folklore in 2012, accepted in 2013 4.“Some changes in funeral rites of the Thai people in Phu Yen, Son La”, the Folklore Magazine, Edition 3, Pages 10-20 5.Some funeral chants of the Thai people in Phu Yen, financed by Vietnam Association of Folklore in 2013, accepted in 2014 6.Funeral ceremony of Lo family in Tat village, Publishing House of Culture and Information, H 7.Some funeral rites of the Muong people in Muong Lang – 3B prize awarded by the Vietnam Association of Folklore 8.“Phi Tay” in religious belief and funeral rites of the Thai people in Phu Yen, Past & Today Magazine, Edition 453, pages 46-56 9.“Traditional funeral of the Thai people in Phu Yen”, the Folklore Magazine, Edition 2, Pages 68-73 Introduction Reason of choosing the topic In the background that studies in funeral rites in general and Thai culture and Thai funeral rites in particular have achieved significant outcomes, increasingly both in quality and quantity, however such studies have not overviewed ethnic groups and local Thai groups Funeral rites are mostly described as one of life cycle rites, or funerals are considered as valuable cultural heritages that should be preserved, but what are their functions have not been concerned On such spirit, it is to study in the dissertation “Thai funeral rite: Ritual process to create a new life for the dead (Thai funeral in Phu Yen, Son La)” to contribute to learning about nature, origin, process of preparation and practice of funeral rites; further explain cultural values and functions that are brought about in the social life to assist in orientation of social policies Objectives and tasks of study - Objective of study: To provide a case study to the panorama of research and arguments in cultural and anthropological studies in terms of the role and significant function of social culture in funeral rites in human life in general To supply scientific data for local cultural managers to make policies related to intangible culture in general and funeral rites in particular; to contribute to maintenance, preservation and improvement of cultural values of ethnic minorities - Tasks of study: To collect documents and written materials; to case study, field survey, summarization and comparison, completion of useful manuscripts on the religious relief in funeral rites Object and scope of study - Object of study: Funeral ritual process of the Thai people in Phu Yen is studied; rite practices in common funeral of old aged women are reviewed, which are basis for analyzing function of ritual practice and ritual symbols in funeral process - Scope of study: Natural space, economy, society, customs and habits, way of preparation and practice of funeral ritual process of the Thai community in Phu Yen (Son La) with funeral rites occurred from the late XX century to the early XXI century Sources of materials and study methods 4.1 Sources of materials Materials are mostly ethnographic fieldwork data obtained from the study locations of Phu Yen villages where the white Thai people are populating In addition we further extend scope of fieldwork on funeral rites of some ethnic co-populating groups, especially the Muong ethnic minority, for comparative data In the dissertation, previous outcomes of researchers at home and abroad regarding funeral rites in general and Thai culture and funeral rites in particular are also exploited and used 4.2 Study methods - Ethnographic fieldwork method (observation, interview, recording, noting, taking photograph and filming, etc.); secondary material study method; synchronic, diachronic comparison method; multidisciplinary study method in cultural studies Significance and contributions of the dissertation - The dissertation is a special work to further provide new fieldwork data on preparation and practice of funeral rites, thereby traditional Thai funeral rites restored in the period of national renovation and integration are recognized - New concepts of the Thai people in Phu Yen on function of rite practice, funeral chants and funeral ritual symbols are also interpreted to create a new life for the dead, to establish a strong belief for the living to make their personal life, family and society better and better - It has a part in affirming the cultural role and function of funeral rites, contributes significantly to Thai studies, provides a case study to arguments in cultural and anthological studies on the role and function of funeral rites, which are basis for making appropriate cultural management policies The dissertation structure Apart from the introduction, the conclusion, the references and the appendix, it is laid out in four chapters as follows: Chapter Overview on study, reasoning foundations and location of study Chapter Thai funeral rite preparation process Chapter Process of funeral rite practice Chapter Role and function of rite practices in creating a new life for the living Chapter OVERVIEW ON THE STUDY, REASONING FOUNDATIONS AND LOCATION OF STUDY 1.1 OVERVIEW ON THE STUDY 1.1.1 Studies in funeral rites of ethnic groups in Vietnam and on the world The most plentiful quantity of works and authors includes works compiled by authors of Viet (Kinh) ethnic group regarding funeral rites of the Viet (Kinh) people (about hundreds of publications) affected by Han culture Apart from works of such above mentioned authors, many other authors are also interested in funeral rites of other ethnic groups in Vietnam; majority is the Muong people and the Tay Thai language in localities These are important data helping the dissertation author approach funeral rites in general and have comparative data of the Thai people’s funeral rites Writings about funeral rites of ethnic people in the world are the classic article of Robert Hertz, Death and the Right Hand, published in 1960, regarding funeral ritual process of the Borneo people, Indonesia; especially the article “From Death to Birth: Ritual Process and Buddhist Meanings in Northern Thailand” by Keyes, translated by Truong Thi Thu Hang; edited by Ngo Hoang 1.1.2 General studies on the Thai people General studies on Thai people are diversified, but just focusing on Thai culture and there is not any work mentioning in detail funeral ritual process 1.1.3 Studies on other Thai funeral rites and religious practice Studies on other Thai funeral rites and religious practice are increasingly plentiful and qualitatively These are main data for the author to make overall survey on funeral rite belief of Thai groups in Phu Yen district to finalize this dissertation 1.2 Reasoning foundations Reasoning foundations, main approach for the author to consider the issues in Thai funeral rite: Ritual process to create a new life for the dead, are psychological function approach of Hertz and Keyes, indicating that all cultural practices, of which are funeral rites, have psychological functions for the living, making them believe that their relative is not died, but transformed to a new life; funeral helps the living overcome the spiritual shock, stabilize social order and their family 1.3 Overview on locality of study 1.3.1 Natural condition Phu Yen is a mountainous district on the Northeast of Son La province, 180km far from Hanoi, 120km from Son La; adjacent to Van Chan district of Yen Bai on the North, Tan Son district of Phu Tho province on the East, Da Bac district of Hoa Binh province on the Southeast, Moc Chau, Yen Chau districts on the South and Bac Yen district of Son La province on the West The overall area of the district is 123,655 ha, equal to 8.7 % of natural area of Son La province There are about 100 small and big streams running over the district from Da River; the climate is tropical monsoon; rainy season and dry season are coincided with summer and winter respectively 1.3.2 The Thai people in Phu Yen Historically, Phu Yen was populated very early It is a region acquiring and integrating into the Northwest culture and is featured with local characteristics of the Northwest gateway, for which the bold mark is Thai and Muong acculturation In terms of population, thanks to convenient location and fertile soil, Phu Yen has become a population locality of the Thai people and other ethnic minorities Before the revolution, Phu Yen was constituted with five communes equivalent to Muong Phia Its population then was not statistic, till now is 96,778 Of whom Thai group accounts for 28.2 %, Muong group for 43%, the remaining for Kinh, Mong, Dao and other ethnic minorities There are 26 communes and two, with 319 villages and population groups Population is allocated in four main regions on uneven natural terrain, often focused on low region and middle region Of Thai group living in Muong Tac, white Thai people are majority Their inhabitation concentrates in villages in middle or edge of basin fields and they are considered as the first exploiters of Muong Tac fields Living on valley and being favored by the nature, the Thai people had good command on field rice and farming for long time They have an irrigational system with muong, phai, lai, lin to water two rice seasons naturally The Thai people are as same as the Muong people in that they often drink alcohol firstly and take rice as additional dishes finally in a meal with guest Normally they often sit in six surrounding a food tray, like traditional cooked foods such as glutinous rice, grilled fish, etc Villages of the Thai people and the Muong people are same in structure, which is crowdedly populated; housings are close together without unified gateway; gardens and fences are less Majority of the Thai people in Phu Yen are living in square-roofed houses on stilts Thai women are often in “xin” and “com” dress, Thai men in plaid shirts, brown baggy pants with straps, T-shirt * Sub-conclusion of Chapter Materials on funeral rite studies are plentiful and qualitative, but no work mentions what are funeral rites of the Thai people in Phu Yen and for which purpose they are done Reasoning foundation and main approach of the dissertation are psychological theory of Hertz and Keyes to review funeral rites of the Thai people in Phu Yen, a mountainous district of Son La province, a Thai cultural gateway at the Thai cultural region in the Northwest Chapter THAI FUNERAL RITE PREPARATION PROCESS 2.1 Thai world view and concept of death The Thai people in Phu Yen says that the world is divided into three layers in correlation, muong pha as the upper, muong bang (muong pieng) as the middle and muong lum (underground) as the lower, each has different region Muong pha is a rich village of Then, Than, Phi, headed by Then Luong (the Ruler of Heaven), managing and governing all inferiors who are living and controlling villages, regions and areas End zone of Muong Pha (muong Then) is Dam doi ngoi pha (end point of the universe) where the dead lives (i.e the world of the dead) People living in Muong pieng and having Khoan (soul) in head shall concentrate into a Phi (ghost) after death and be taken to the heaven by a sorcerer and live at Dam doi ngoi phai where they produce, farming with buffalo, dress and take meal and sleep like on the earth The Thai people also perceive the universe with two worlds, a living world and a nihilistic world The former includes existence of human being and different things we can catch The later is a world of other life dominated in the human notions and governing the real life; it exists in form of Phi (Ghost, Then, God, Soul, Life Priciple) Phi includes good Phi and bad Phi, but all affecting on the life, thus they have to treat with all Phi by worshiping in calendar and seasons and according to life cycle rites, of which is funeral, for aspiring the good The Thai people further perceive that the dead is transformed to the nihilistic world (Dam, Pang) of their ancestors to continue living Funeral rites shall “transform” the dead to the ghost (Phi, Khoan) by funeral rite process 2.2 Funeral rites for the new dead 2.2.1 Raising spirit of and washing the dead Raising spirit of the dead, knifing the window, alarming, notifying, bathing the dead with fragrant water, preparing coffin, hiring a funeral Bo den means persons in charge of lighting for the sorcerer and the tum, taking care for altar worship and arranging food tray for the sorcerer together with sons-in-law of the dead Team of digging grave means healthy men who voluntarily dig grave, make sepulchre, coffin house and soul house; cut big, straight and long bamboo without broken top to carriage arm and framework for the coffin Male servants include males who know to cook ordinary dishes, to slaughter domestic cattle and poultry, to cut and slice meat and to cook meals and to arrange food trays… Female servants include girls who are in charge of cooking rice, carrying water, taking wirewood, bamboo leaves, cleaning leaves, picking vegetable, cleaning bowls and chopsticks, measuring wine, etc In addition to female servants, females are also in charge of striking drums and gongs 2.3.5 Slaughtering poultry and cattle for funeral rites and cooking meals Main foods for funeral trays in breakfast, lunch and dinner are pork, beef and buffalo meat for rich families; cattle meats are also addition Whenever a funeral tray is arranged, another tray for tay of the sorcerer, or the tum is also prepared After that food trays for the whole funeral are prepared 2.3.6 Digging grave The funeral family or geomancer selects location of grave, holds the ground breaking ceremony and hands over to the phe for digging the grave properly and satisfactorily 2.3.7 Doing objects in the funeral Head of the family assigns descendents and attendants to prepare facilities, utensils, objects in service of funeral rite practice such as the soul house, sewing objects, etc * Sub-conclusion of Chapter Preparation for Thai funeral rite practice is diversified and complex It includes all components; persons and works are assigned clearly; all must be prepared, otherwise insufficiency may affection on religious belief objectives of funeral rite practice for creating a new and good life for the 10 dead in the new world of ancients; the living can keep peace in mind and have good psychology Chapter FUNERAL RITUAL PRACTICE PROCESS 3.1 Process of organizing funeral rites 3.1.1 Funeral chant in morning Rites for which expenses are shared by daughters and sons-in-law often occur in early morning To prepare for funeral rite practice, there are fully components The sorcerer initiates parts of the funeral chant: getting up; telling human life, bad dream, portents, illness, tale of cock-crow, inviting to take meal, asking for help and support The chant is long, the most importance is telling about human life 3.1.2 Funeral chant at lunch The rite includes preparation of lunch, for which expenses are contributed by maternal cousins, including four worship trays, tens of food trays, which are constituted with all components as in breakfast The sorcerer practices the chant in which a long part tells about sons-in-law and nephews-in-law who are hard to find the coffin, across three Man (Dao) villages, deep forests and high mountains to cut a big tree and to take it to the dead; it is also followed by a story about “death way” 3.1.3 Rite for welcoming a cake feast It is practiced alternatively by the funeral family before and after main meals in morning and noon; with welcoming and entering rite for the sorcerer to introduce the food tray, invite the dead to receive, to eat and to drink, to take gift and request for help and support Chants for inviting cake feast are often identical While the sorcerer is practicing, head of the family (owner of cake tray) and descendants of the dead implement the rite of greeting and blessing in the middle of the house 3.1.4 Funeral chant in the main dinner 11 Before practicing the rite, a sub-rite is practiced: descendants of the dead show gratitude to the sorcerer, the tum in the help of head of the family and descendants presents remuneration, gift and encourages them to help further; then practice rite of carrying tray, funeral chant with long content All descendants are listening to the sorcerer and preparing to pour wine Contents of starting and finishing are identical with the previous main rites, with some supplementation As the main content, the sorcerer invites the dead to select field land for cultivation and farming; land for setting up house, to find out leaves to ask other souls to help to construct houses, to come to village of helpers to receive assets and properties supplied by the descendants to live in a new place 3.1.5 The sorcerer submits coffin, buffalo, soul house and other properties Offering to submit coffin is often combined in chant in the lunch, or it is separated Offering to submit buffalo can be made before or in the same worship with buffalo meat Offering to submit the soul house is made before the main dinner; Other assets are worshiped to be submitted by the sorcerer to take the dead on way 3.2 Funeral rites 3.2.1 Preparing a offering tray for seeing off the dead and delivering Two sons-in-law and servants proactively prepare objects for an offering tray, a special tray with smoked chicken or grilled meat and some offering trays All utensils and assets are arranged in the middle of the house to be delivered to the dead 3.2.2 Funeral chant of seeing off the dead to the heaven This is the most important and the longest funeral chant; for which rites are of nature of seeing off and separating, etc often in the midnight to early morning of the final day – taking the dead to the cemetery The chant is comprised of paragraphs such as waking up, etc reminding, greeting people, greeting thing, seeing off the dead to ancestor to take a new life The seeing off delegation must be across various villages 12 (the real world), muong pha (God village) to submit to Then (the Ruler of Heaven) and to hand over the dead to live in eternity with ancestor (Dam, Pang) in the new world With long distance and across different places, it is very complicate to come to the heaven The delegation of souls is taken to the earth on the short and straight way 3.2.3 Memorial service and funeral Head of the village conducts a memorial service, reads funeral oration and thank-you letter on behalf of the family and starts taking the coffin to the cemetery; prepares to lower the coffin down into the grave and backfills it Descendants are assigned to bury the disposition stone, to plant some trees, to bury a death flag; to search fagots and bundles of bamboo leaves, etc 3.3 Post-funeral rites 3.3.1 Rite of closing the grave door after lowering the coffin into the grave 3.3.2 Rite of disinfecting to set up a temporary altar The sorcerer and the people return to the funeral family to take the pinnate leaf water to practice disinfecting to continue offering to call back soul of the dead to the temporary altar for normal worship until the 100 day death anniversary 3.3.3 Rite of raising spirit of the dead, binding thread on wrist After calling back soul of the dead, the sorcerer continues raising spirit of the dead and removing live priciple for the living, then binding black and white thread on wrist of each person in age hierarchy, saying reason and good wishes with verses to the bound person who receives and replies Afterward, descendants shall bind more threads to old aged persons, etc *Sub-conclusion of Chapter The main process for funeral ritual practice: removing fate, chants in morning, noon, afternoon and travel in Thai funeral in Phu Yen is very important, scaled, complicated, organized carefully, thoroughly and properly in terms of customs as from starting to finishing 13 Sub-rites which are enclosed before, during or after the main rites such as tay before and after the main rites, submitting the soul house and buffalo, etc have proved importance and scale of the funeral Chapter ROLE AND FUNCTION OF RITE PRACTICE IN CREATING A NEW LIFE FOR THE DEAD 4.1 Role and function of rite practice 4.1.1 The sorcerer The sorcerer takes an important role as master of the ceremony, takes care of all rites, gives instructions to descendants, directly initiates funeral chants and protects safety of the dead and the living; There is a body of servants (Tay) The sorcerer is inherently son of the God, with natural power He is a link between the human world and the soul world, between the living and the dead; he can communicate with gods to protect and to see off the dead as desired by the descendants In funeral and real life, the sorcerer is often trusted in the community because he is the very person who can extraordinary thing for satisfying the spiritual desire of the funeral family and the community, which is to take the soul of the dead to his/her ancestors, to a new world with a good and eternal life 4.1.2 Daughters-in-law and sons-in-law of the dead They are useful servants helping the sorcerer practice well funeral rites, complying with his instruction for fanning the dead, arranging offering trays in funeral meals They are also under direction of head of the family, old aged persons, etc to comply with regulated functions According to Thai customs, daughters-in-law and sons-in-law of the dead must support parents-in-law until they die; they must be good supporting daughters-inlaw and sons-in-law so that the dead salvation is easy Tui khut, thread shuttle, scissors, sharp knife and palm leaf are protection instruments of daughters-in-law and sons-in-law of the dead when doing funeral practice A thread shuttle has two smooth ends for 14 knitting fabric, which indicates that the dead shall come to his/her ancestors easily According to the Thai customs, big offering trays must be prepared, guarded, wine poured by daughters-in-law and sons-in-law so that the dead may take meal to get good health for travel, otherwise it may be affected; sharp knife, scissors and metal wares are symbols of resourceful men, hardworking and industrious women so that the dead easily comes to the new world 4.1.3 Persons practicing other rites Directly or indirectly, they have emotional relationships, good deeds and right actions to participate in well performing the rituals, make the descendants keep rest in mind and create a new life for the dead 4.2 Roles and functions of funeral chants 4.2.1 Funeral chant of removing fate Funeral chant for removing fate to break the relationship between the living and the dead, completing the rite, the dead knows his/her death and descendants just organize the funeral when the soul is tender Thus, the funeral family must protect with anti-ghost objects, drive away arresting evil spirits Village gate opening ceremony is also performed to ask guards to open the village gate and welcome the dead 4.2.2 Funeral chants in breakfast, lunch and dinner To practice such main rites, meal trays and offerings must be prepared; all components of carrying trays and imitating funeral music must be well arranged to show emotion, hardness, industriousness and wholeheartedness of descendants in taking care of parents when they are healthy, old aged and died, so that religious objectives of funeral chants in funeral meals are successful and subject to customs - In the funeral chant in breakfast, the sorcerer start to wake up the soul of the dead, to give the soul water and betel to listen to the story on human 15 life cycle (Tay oan oc), rules and customs with target of "advising" the soul of the dead all development history of a person so that the dead may have good command on Thai culture, know how to behave and deal properly with moral code, to entrepreneur and to take a good life in the world of his/her ancestors; to prevent to become an "ignorant person" The following is Telling about dream, ill omen, illness and treatment According to Thai concept, when an old aged person becomes seriously ill or dying, Then shall make such person encounter with bizarre, and bad phenomena in dreams so that his/her live priciple is too afraid that flying to the heaven; The body starts degrading, the descendants shall prepare offerings and ask for treatment, but the ill person is not recovered, thus the sorcerer is invited to practice Fate asking rite or One rite to catch the dead from the heaven but fail because this person's fate is over, then died The following is the part of inviting the sorcerer¸ while waiting for the sorcerer, the descendants are not entitled to cry out, otherwise they are likely to be caught and induced by the dead The sorcerer has power to communicate with gods, evils and souls when practicing rites; religious objectives which are to ask gods to support the dead, to prevent surrounding evils from harming the dead and to assure safety during taking the dead to the new life in the soul world are successful The funeral chants in the morning describes how the sorcerer uses the super natural power to prevent evil spirits¸ to tell the tale of cock to "crow" on road By ending this funeral chants or others, the sorcerer often asks the dead to take rest and wait next invitation from his/her descendants; travel is impossible to prevent from catching soul, affecting on religious objective of the people For such belief, Thai people have to wrap up the dead in fabric, cover the feet to guard the dead from interference by other evils - It is followed by the funeral rite of lunch as a long story about his/her descendants' finding coffins, making a dragon board or a horse with wings on which the dead could fly to the heaven, otherwise the dead may not come there without such boat or horse; then the story about "death way" to 16 direct to the new world on the rick and well-off Muong Then where the dead takes a good and eternal life It is a dream of real life, the final target attracting any soul after dead To make this dream become true, the dead must be prepared in good health, cultural knowledge and other skills before it is taken by the sorcerer On contrary to the good dream is bizarre dream, illness and death of the dead before his/her death, a reason for which the ill person's live priciple is too afraid that flying to the heaven out from the body The next story is that the sorcerer takes the dead to visit his/her ancestors, asking them to construct houses and graves to live in like the living; thus the descendants must prepare to offer meals, properties and money; To invite the dead to take meal in cheerful manner, it requires the descendants to attend and to wait for pouring wines in funeral music When the dead takes meals, dishes and their preparation must be listed in detail so that such supernatural gods like the dead dare eat Describing the hard process of breeding and cooking also indicates the kind attitude of the descendants, which is also foundation for them to ask souls of the dead in any funeral or death anniversary for support, or to ask supernatural gods in big ceremonies such as praying for good season, worshiping hamlet and village gods, etc After taking the meal, the sorcerer seduces the dead to support his/her descendants in details at maximum level - The funeral chants in dinner is constituted with the introduction, inviting and ending like previous funeral meals; In the main part, the sorcerer invites the dead to select wide and nice land plots for cultivation, such as terrace fields, fields, gardens, etc which are satisfactory for continuity in the new life, otherwise the religious objectives may be affected 4.2.3 Funeral chant for inviting offering tray Inviting the dead with offering tray of cakes aims at showing gratitude toward the dead, inviting him/her to take meal before departure and taking properties because it is believed that the dead shall take the new life 4.2.4 Funeral chant for seeing off the dead 17 Because it is the ritual oratorio, the most important and longest funeral chant, before practicing, the sorcerer and servants have to take meal to wait for listening to the sorcerer They have to take meal before the dead so as they are capable for taking the dead to go away Apart from introduction, inviting to take meal and ending like other chants, there are main parts such as continuing submitting property; saying farewell; taking the dead to the heaven, which call for a certain person monitoring how the sorcerer takes the dead and his/her descendants to come across proper passages “If the sorcerer fails to take the dead across the passages or places stipulated in Thai customs (inadequate oration of passages in the funeral chant), it is believed that the soul of the dead could not come to the ancestors’ place, so it has to live unstably in the existing world [19, page 66] or lost way to come to a certain village The road from the village on the earth to a village in the heaven on which the final target is the ancestors’ place in the end of heaven (Dam doi ngoi pha) is a long, remote road across difficult, bendy terrains and strange and dangerous places, which call for talent of leading by the sorcerer On the contrary, the road down onto the earth is short, straight and easy for access Such hard upward itinerary is a challenge of the final will and courage of the people, like “special pregnancy” before giving birth to “a new life” of the dead to take a good and eternal life in the heaven Once obtaining the religious objective, the sorcerer instructs souls of the living to come down onto the earth easily to have a bath before coming home for continuity of the daily real life All people attending in the funeral must take a bath before coming back home since attending a funeral relates to “the death” To prevent any undesirable effects, the funeral attendants drive away all the bad and the dirty in the water flow, when they come back home, they shall be disinfected further by the sorcerer 4.2.5 Funeral chant for closing grave gate When delivering objects and foods for the dead to join the soul world, to prevent the dead from confusing and hunger, the descendants supply food 18 while coming back from the grave to the house so that the dead don’t forget way to his/her house 4.2.6 Making live priciple and bind thread on wrist Since the living people attending the funeral are likely to lose soul and live priciple or to become ill and weak, a rite of calling live priciple and retaining soul by binding thread on wrist for being healthy and keeping peace in mind 4.3 Function of ritual symbols 4.3.1 Cock crow on the way means symbols of time alarm and supporting in seeing off the dead to take a new life in the new world 4.3.2 Male dog licking the bridge means an animal of finding way, licking the bridge to help the funeral attendants return to their ancestors across high mountains and wide rivers; and for many very slippery bridges, dogs must go ahead 4.3.3 Pig is a well-off symbol of the living people and of the dead to breed 4.3.4 Buffalo is a big property presented by the living to the dead, which is reared for farming and producing property for well-off and happy life in the new world and preventing to raise inconvenience for the descendants 4.3.5 Coffin is a symbol of a dragon boat and a horse with wings produced by the descendants, on which the dead could fly to the heaven 4.3.6 Soul house is a symbol of nice zoomed-out house for the dead 4.3.7 Sepulchre is used for covering the coffin that is placed on a carrying framework; then for covering rain and sunlight, letting it ruin without repair 4.3.8 Meaning of other tools The Heaven’s Net represents the natural world, i.e the Heaven Passport facilitates the dead in convenient travel; the death flag is a symbol of the universal tree to connect the yin and the yang, the heaven and the earth; Some sticks like sugar-cane with joints connecting from root to top are symbols of the universal tress with function of connecting the yin and the yang, the heaven and the earth, the living and the dead; fabric tree, bamboo and castor-oil plant are used as supporting sticks for the 19 descendants They symbolize the righteousness and honest of the; wood sticks with long pieces symbolize the yin-yang connection, the earth- sky connection; Castor soft sticks represent purity and flexibility of the mother Straw hat is reminder of hard period of taking care of children and hunger when parents had to make a nest with straw Some seeding objects symbolize reproduction and production development Anti-ghost objects such as rackets, hooves, fishing-net, etc are used for preventing evils from robbing properties, foods and catching souls Thread is used many times, for many functions: for cutting fate, delivering coffin, soul house, buffalo; thread is bound on wrist to retain soul; for the yin-yang connection; black and white threads are bound on wrist in the live priciple ceremony; Thread shuttle symbolizes the beauty and reminds of origin of the cotton plantation and knitting Thai fabrics are often red, white and black, symbolizing the well-off soul world; white of funeral clothing is for abstaining for the dead Oat fruits are playing facilities for the dead * Sub-conclusion of Chapter Thus, the role of Thai funeral ritual practices in Phu Yen is diversified, representing concepts on the world view, the outlook and various aspects of material and spiritual life of the Thai people; contributing to “transformation” of the dead, “creating a new life” for the dead; strengthening and balancing spiritual and psychological life of the living, actually for the living 20 CONCLUSION It can be affirmed that Thai funeral ritual process (Thai people in Phu Yen) are organizing works and preparation for funeral ritual practice for the common objective that the living create a new, nice and eternal life for the dead in the world of his/her ancestors Since the living actively practice preparation and conduction of thoughtful rites, they feel peaceful and believe in that their relative is not died, but transformed to a new life; that he/she arrives to the final target as his/her ancestor’s place Just performing such rites, the living are kept peace in mind because they have taken full responsibility, duties and filial piety for the dead to pass away They further desire the dead to support and help them take the better life on the earth Starting from a shock from the death, the living is then balanced, gets peacefulness in life to be self-confident in daily life and continues developing the better and better new life It is the very focus, study objective and application result of theoretical approach of Prof Hertz and Keyes, which has been provided very early in the dissertation Thus, objective and tasks of study have been addressed reasonably with appropriate method by the author of the dissertation The dissertation is a monograph on funeral ritual process with valuable new fieldwork, through which Thai funeral rites in Phu Yen are more obviously recognized It also explains the new concepts on the role and the function of preparation, ritual practice and symbols in Thai funeral rite are for creating a new life for the dead, for the living to keep peace in mind and believe in their life It contributes to affirming that funeral ritual practice is not simply to bury the dead with great memory of the living, but also to express the belief that their relative is not died, but transformed to a new world; To provide a case-study to the panorama of research and arguments in cultural and anthropological studies in terms of the role and significant function of funeral rites; To prepare basis for making social and cultural management policies appropriately with new life during the process of modernization and integration; To contribute to development of new life 21 which is increasingly civilized but deeply imbued with the national cultural characteristics Funeral rites in general and Thai funeral rites in particular are featured with the religious belief to create a new life for the dead by taking his/her soul to the world of the ancestors, thus funeral organizing must be complicated, thoughtful and careful To so, it requires the sorcerer and attendants of the funeral to prepare and to organize funeral rites of "transforming" the dead to the new world as stipulated in the customs Funeral rites cover notations, concepts and viewpoints about a complete world including the real world and the nihilistic world, the real world of the living and the supernatural world of phi In which, the real work exists and is present specifically, but frequently governed and affected by the nihilistic world In such natural world, human is the centre, however since they can't understand well about life and death which is a phenomenon, development and perdition of a material entity, their thinking is generated with primitive religious beliefs, products of Thai cosmology Of such beliefs, funeral rites are a type of general belief that indicates idea, belief, opinion of the Thai people awareness on life and death The living organize rituals, the sorcerer practices funeral chants, daughters-in-law fans the dead, sons-in-law wait for giving services to the dead, combination of performance such as trumpeting, drumming, brandishing or beating gong, etc all are for facilitating the dead to come to a "new good life" in the new world By "encoding" the roles and the functions of funeral ritual practice, it can be affirmed that all rites occurred from starting to ending are expressed with symbol language of funeral rites In which the sorcerer takes the role of master of ceremony, acts as a "link" between the living and the dead, between the world of human and the world of ghosts (phi) It means that all funeral ritual practices are within scope of preparation of all tools and instruments to help the sorcerer perform well the function of practicing funeral chants to successfully "transform the belief" of the living toward the dead and phi In funeral, the people take a central role governing all 22 activities related the dead and his/her soul to enter into "the new life" which is different from ours, but always is a part of ours Thereby we can realize the method of creating a "new life for the dead", recognize that the Thai people have built for our nation a very diversified and rather perfect world view The role and the function of a funeral direct both the living and the dead to "a new life" in a "new world" - the world of spirit All the role and function in the Thai funeral ritual process in Phu Yen are the very expression of dreams and aspiration of the people, of the social community for the good and humanity in life Though the Thai people believe in remote and close supernatural forces and pray for their support and help, these concepts somewhat express idea, psychology and personality of the Thai people in cultural, ethical and spiritual activities that have been handed back so far It can be said that the process of Thai funeral ritual practice to create a “new life” for the dead has reflected legitimate aspirations, humane methods for ritual preparation and practice, which their ancestors selected to preserve and to improve so far to make value of Thai cultural characteristics In the process of renovation and integration, a funeral of the Thai people and any ethnic groups attracts great number of attendants in various relations A funeral becomes a “focal point” of all sharing and emotional communication in such relations; it is also to perform “focal” function in understanding communications between the living and the dead The special oratory environment of funeral contributes to improvement of spirit and personality of the people, balancing ideas and awareness, stabilizing psychology and emotion of the living, who are suffering from psychological shocks resulted from the death A funeral somewhat balances life of the community, increases family and community union; contributes to deepening humanitarian sentiments of the family, society and promotes more sustainable social development That is why it is recognized proactively by attendants who are reverent and sacred but very practical in experience 23 Funeral is a social changing phenomenon Variations in Thai funeral rites are currently governed by various economic, political and cultural dynamics of the region, the country and the world Especially it is also regulated by cultural exchange between the Thai people and the Kinh people and between the Thai people and other ethnic minorities Though there are unceasing changes in nature of Thai religious belief in general, funeral rites in particular are kept unchanged On contrary, such heritable and adaptable changes enrich Thai cultural and spiritual life in general and Thai funeral rites in particular; contribute to making Vietnam culture plentiful and imbued with rich ethnicity 24 [...]... chant, before practicing, the sorcerer and servants have to take meal to wait for listening to the sorcerer They have to take meal before the dead so as they are capable for taking the dead to go away Apart from introduction, inviting to take meal and ending like other chants, there are main parts such as continuing submitting property; saying farewell; taking the dead to the heaven, which call for a. .. may be affected 4.2.3 Funeral chant for inviting offering tray Inviting the dead with offering tray of cakes aims at showing gratitude toward the dead, inviting him/her to take meal before departure and taking properties because it is believed that the dead shall take the new life 4.2.4 Funeral chant for seeing off the dead 17 Because it is the ritual oratorio, the most important and longest funeral. .. the family, one maternal head and one paternal head 2.3.3 Assigning worship for families appropriately 2.3.4 Establishing an funeral organizing board Funeral organizing board - authority: Including head of the family, daughters -in- law of the dead, midwife, sons -in- law of the dead, the eldest son The eldest son and the head of the family are representatives of the family in the funeral organizing board... spiritual activities that have been handed back so far It can be said that the process of Thai funeral ritual practice to create a new life for the dead has reflected legitimate aspirations, humane methods for ritual preparation and practice, which their ancestors selected to preserve and to improve so far to make value of Thai cultural characteristics In the process of renovation and integration, a. .. deeds and right actions to participate in well performing the rituals, make the descendants keep rest in mind and create a new life for the dead 4.2 Roles and functions of funeral chants 4.2.1 Funeral chant of removing fate Funeral chant for removing fate to break the relationship between the living and the dead, completing the rite, the dead knows his/her death and descendants just organize the funeral. .. funeral ritual process with valuable new fieldwork, through which Thai funeral rites in Phu Yen are more obviously recognized It also explains the new concepts on the role and the function of preparation, ritual practice and symbols in Thai funeral rite are for creating a new life for the dead, for the living to keep peace in mind and believe in their life It contributes to affirming that funeral ritual. ..band, inviting a sorcerer; selecting daughter -in- law and son -in- law of the dead; raisin chin; closing the dead eyes; dressing the dead; wearing new shoes; hanging three corners of the mosquito net; preparing to chant and putting the dead into the coffin 2.2.2 Preparation of fabric Preparing white, black, red, striped, flower fabric to sew new clothing and to shroud the dead body (a great quantity... practices in Phu Yen is diversified, representing concepts on the world view, the outlook and various aspects of material and spiritual life of the Thai people; contributing to “transformation” of the dead, “creating a new life for the dead; strengthening and balancing spiritual and psychological life of the living, actually for the living 20 CONCLUSION It can be affirmed that Thai funeral ritual process. .. flag; to search 9 fagots and 9 bundles of bamboo leaves, etc 3.3 Post -funeral rites 3.3.1 Rite of closing the grave door after lowering the coffin into the grave 3.3.2 Rite of disinfecting to set up a temporary altar The sorcerer and the people return to the funeral family to take the pinnate leaf water to practice disinfecting to continue offering to call back soul of the dead to the temporary altar... leaf; the right hand holds a long-handle pan to fan the dead 2 to 3 persons are selected as sons -in- law of the dead, in casual funeral clothing, sharp knife on back, tui khut on shoulders, doing some instruments for daughters -in- law of the dead, arranging food trays, guarding, pouring wines in funeral rites, in breakfast, lunch and dinner and taking the sorcerer on road… 2.3.2 Selecting head of the