thai

• Introduction

• Political System

• Religion

• Culture

• Important Festivals

• Interesting Places

•Lies in Southeast Asia

•world's 51st-largest country • 20th most-populous country, with approximately 63 million people.

•Capital and largest city of Thailand is Krungthep.

•Krung Thep", meaning "City of Angels".

•Outside of Thailand, the city is known throughout the world as Bangkok.

• The country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities.

• Government system

• The King

Government system• Parliamentary Democracy

• Similar to England, we recognize the monarch as the head of the state, but the Prime Minister is the one who runs the country.

Sovereignty

King

Legislative Branch

(Parliament)

Administrative Branch

(Prime Minister)

Judiciary Branch

(Court)

The King•Constitutional monarchy with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as the ruling monarch.

•The King has reigned for more than half a century

• The longest reigning Thai monarch and the longest reigning current monarch in the world.

• The King is recognized as the Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and Defender of the Faith.

•94.7% of the total population are Buddhists of the Theravada tradition.

•Muslims are the second largest religious group in Thailand at 4.6%

•Christians, mainly Catholics, represent 0.75% of the population.

• Value

• Greeting

• Cuisine

• Art & Music

• Sport

• Important Festivals

Value

• Respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice.

• Thai have a strong sense of hospitality and generosity, but also a strong sense of social hierarchy.

• Seniority is an important concept in Thai culture. Elders have by tradition ruled

in family decisions or ceremonies.

Greeting• The traditional Thai greeting, the wai, is generally offered first by the youngest of the two people meeting

• Usually coinciding with the spoken word "Sawat-dii khrap" for male speakers, and "Sawat-dii ka" for females.

• The elder then is to respond afterwards in the same way. Social status and position, such as in government, will also have an influence on who performs the wai first.

• The wai is a sign of respect and reverence for another

Cuisine•Blends five fundamental tastes: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and salty.

•Some common ingredients used in Thai cuisine include garlic, chilly, lime juice, lemon grass, and fish sauce.

•The staple food in Thailand is rice which is included in almost every meal. •Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, and Thais domestically consume over 100 kg of milled rice per person per year.

Art & Music• Most of Thai art and music are related to Buddhist beliefs and the king.

Sport• Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, is the national sport in Thailand

• Achieved popularity all over the world in the 1990s.

•Muay Thai has received with its full-contact rules allowing strikes including elbows, throws and knees.

• Besides Muay Thai, Thailand also have several kinds of traditional sports

• Songkran

• Loy Khrathong

Songkran festival• Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand

• The day is April 13th , but the festival usually lasts till the 15th

• The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water.

• People roam the streets with containers of water or water guns, or post themselves at

the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby.

•Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends and neighbors.

Loy Krathong

• Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.

• "Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk decorated with elaborately-folded banana

leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc.

•The festival probably originated in India as a Hindu festival similar to Deepavali as thanksgiving to the deity of the Ganges with floating lanterns for giving life throughout the year.

• The act of floating away the candle raft is also symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot.