How to Have Thai Manners 3
By Richard Barrow 
Saturday 26th November, 2005 | 376 words | Category: Thai Culture | 2 feedbacks »
This is continuing with the story of the parents that took their daughter to visit her grandmother. Arriving at the front door, they are greeted by their niece. As she is a lot younger than them, notice how much more respect she is showing to the two adults. For them, all they have to do is a “receiving wai” as their niece is still a child.
The mother then turns to her daughter and tells her to say “hello” to her cousin. As they are not of similar age, the younger cousin has to pay more respect. Notice that the niece, who is probably about 3 or 4 years older, is just doing the receiving wai. However, the daughter, being the youngest, has to do a full and deep wai. If the two children were of the same age then they would only need to do the standard straight wai without the courtesy.
Now they are shown into the presence of the grandmother. She is probably the eldest of the family and so therefore the matriarch. Everyone has to pay her the greatest of respect. Notice how they are all approaching the grandmother. They are doing this on their knees because she is seated. It is important that their head is not higher than that of the grandmother. Notice also how the niece is sitting respectfully off to one side.
Now they entire family are doing the respectful “seated wai”. You saw some close-ups of something like this the other day. See how they are not actually kneeling but sitting on the left leg. They then bow down to the floor with both the hands and elbows touching the surface. This is, of course, very different to how Thai people pay respect to a Buddha image. I showed you those pictures the other day. With a Buddha image they would kneel and then prostrate to the ground with their hands flat on the surface in front of them.
I will continue later with this story of how to have good Thai manners. The pictures were taken at Sriwittayapaknam School who are leading the way in promoting Thai culture to the world. Visit the web site at www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th.
Do you have any questions about Thailand? Maybe you are planning a holiday or just want to learn more about Thai culture. Have all of your questions answered for free at ThailandQA.com. These forums are part of the family friendly Paknam Web Network.
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2 comments
Another reason for me to retire to Thailand.
on the whole, I often feel uncomfortable with the wais (and other courtesy) myself. I'm an outsider, not clearly established in the system (I'm older than all my colleagues, and more experienced, but still a farang and a newcomer, so it's messy), and I feel I rather run the risk of overdoing than underdoing anything related to manners. for example, I do thank the cook lady for the meal, my Thai colleagues just take it. simple things like that.
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