Changing Meaning of the Elderly in Nan Province, Northern Thailand: From "Khon Thao Khon Kae" to "Phu Sung Ayu"(<Special Issue>Redefining "Otherness" from Northern Thailand)

Abstract

In this paper, I deal with the group named "the elderly" in the guardian spirit ritual in theTai-Lue villages in Nan province, Northern Thailand. These groups appeared after thedecline of the traditional role of the elderly in the ritual, and are connected with the recentsocial situation including the national policies towards local cultures and the elderly.Village elderly carry out newly invented performances in the ritual as a new culture ofthe elderly, not transmitted from their ancestors. One can say that the role of the elderlyin the ritual has changed from that of "Khon Thao Khon Kae" (an older person who hastraditional knowledge) to that of "Phu Sung Ayu" (a person over 60 years of age, who canreceive welfare services).However these newly invented activities of the elderly in the ritual are voluntarilyinitiated by them. They have tried to find their own world of activities even in the streamof "welfarization." They are given a new arena of self-representation and activities, i. e.performing as the Tai-Lue "elderly." So they are in a sense defined by the state, but theyadapt those definitions for their own purposes.