The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe: Being Sketches of the Domestic and Religious Rites and Ceremonies of the SiameseYoung, Ernest
Religion
The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe: Being Sketches of the Domestic and Religious Rites and Ceremonies of the Siamese
Young, Ernest
Thailand -- Religious life and customs; Thailand -- Social life and customs
Uncoloured pictures have no charm for them, for an ordinary drawing
in black and white is utterly incomprehensible to them. All native
drawings, with their strange disregard of the laws of perspective,
are executed in colours. They do not instantly recognise photographs
of the streets and buildings with whose appearance they are
perfectly familiar, and they will as often as not view them upside
down. The power to appreciate black and white is, however, merely
dormant, as is shown by the fact that the few children who attend
the Anglo-Vernacular schools speedily learn to take an intelligent
interest in the drawings and reproductions of photographs published in
the English illustrated papers.
They are very clever in the art of making bouquets and weaving
garlands of flowers. On festive occasions, the houses are festooned
from end to end with long rope-like strands of small blossoms fastened
together with wonderful skill.
On every head a little tuft of hair is allowed to grow in the centre
of a shaven crown. This is removed at a certain period, with an
imposing and important ritual.
They make excellent scholars, for they are very bright and
intelligent. Only a mere handful of the population attend any
school regularly, but all those who hope to obtain any Government
employment must at least learn to read and write. Those that do
attend the schools learn to draw accurately and neatly after very
little practice. They need no teaching with regard to modelling in
clay, their representations of elephants in particular being beyond
criticism. All ordinary school subjects are rapidly acquired by
them, and they are adepts in the acquisition of a foreign language.
They learn to read, write, and speak English in the Anglo-Vernacular
schools in about three years, with great ease and fluency. Many boys
will speak in English concerning the common events of their daily
lives after a few months' tuition. They are helped in this matter by
their wonderfully retentive memories which enable them to remember a
large number of words and idioms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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