Culture and everyday life are clearly separated in most Western countries. You’ll hardly see Shakespearean values practiced in contemporary England, for instance. However, Thailand has successfully retained much of its ancient wisdom, seamlessly integrating it with the inevitable modern progress.
For this reason, I think that it’s important to be familiar with Thailand’s cultural heritage in order to get a better understanding about the Thai way of life.
Just for fun, let’s see how much you know about… Siamese literature! I was playing around with Fireworks today, and made two pictures of a famous villain from a well-known Thai story.
Both images, modern and ancient, depict the same character. The first picture is a statue by a contemporary artist; the second one is part of an Ayutthaya-era mural painting. Pretty, aren’t they? 🙂 Now how about taking a shot at the following questions:
1. Who is he?
2. What story is he in?
3. How many heads does he have?
4. What city is he the ruler of?
5. What was his name in his former life?
6. What made him evil?
Try to answer as many as you can without reference at first (since I also made up the questions from memory). The questions are in order of increasing difficulty, so don’t get frustrated if you get only the first few. I’m pretty sure that our Thai friends could answer all of these without even thinking. 🙂
There will be more pictures and questions coming, along with the correct answers to these. Have fun!
5 responses to “Thai Culture Quiz”