Almost every country in the world have their own culture and traditional. Some are similar some are difference and some are the same. But we are all human being that need the same basic physical needs. We are all can feel happy ,sad, angry, hungry etc. Its interesting on how people live with different beliefs, attitude and behavior. For some people that don’t know what is Thai. Thailand or what we called “Thai” is the country located in the center of the southeast asia.
When talking about culture the biggest heading would be religion which play an important role in our lives. An old Thai culture almost all of it came from the beliefs of Buddhism which is the main religion and including 95% of population in the country,while the United States which the main religion is Christian and make up 78.5% population of the country. Christians believe Jesus is the son of God, God himself and the savior of humanity.The goal of Christianity is eternal life with God in Heaven, a perfect existence in which God's glory and bliss are shared. Buddhism is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality and based on the teaching of Buddha. The goal is to escape a cycle of suffering and rebirth by end suffering,achieve nirvana. There is a lot of difference in these two religion but the common thing is both are teaching and leading human to do good things. There is some different in religious that might surprised the American people which is,Buddhism due to religious discipline, Thai monks are forbidden physical contact with women. Women are therefore expected to make way for passing monks to ensure that accidental contact does not occur.
There is some old beliefs that still important to Thai culture today. The younger person shouldn’t touch or play with an elder person’s head its shown that you are being unrespectful and rude. This is because the Thai people consider the foot to be the dirtiest and fattest part of the body. Also the language that younger person uses to say to an elder person. It has to be a polite word too.
When comes to the language, American people speaks English which is the official language in United States and the main language in the world while Spanish is also the primary language spoken at home by over 34 million people. Thai people speaks their own language called “Thai” from the name of the country.
Popular culture including music, movies and sport is also the largest culture in every country. American culture has a popular styles of music which is including Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop and etc. Also the famous artist and the biggest music industry in the world. American Film is usually referred to in a generalizing manner as Hollywood. The center of the best film and movie stars from all around the world. American has the world best league of sports too including NFL, NBA, NHL, PGA tour, Grand Slam and etc. While mostly Thai popular culture are influenced by the western culture. There is only a few old unique culture such as Thai country music, Thai instruments( Thai flute, Thai Xylophone etc) and some Thai sport called Sepak takraw which resembling volleyball, except that it uses a rattan ball and only allows players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball.
As you can see the different and the similarity of the two culture. There is no right and wrong but its just different.
Buddhism has always seemed like a sweet religion to me! I love the idea of nature being a big part of Buddhism. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteWow, this post was very informative. I never knew very much about the Thai culture! This has opened me up to new ideas and made me think about how fortunate and diverse our country is when i looked at all of our sports leagues and music styles.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very good! I learned a lot of new information because I don't really know much about culture in Thailand.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I learned alot about the Thai culture. :D
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to visit Thailand! It sounds like a culturally rich place.
ReplyDeleteVery good post! I learned so much!
ReplyDeleteI always have been interested in Buddihsm and I enjoyed the blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how one part of the world may influence another. It can even create a completely different popular culture. Also, Sepak takraw sounds very difficult haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy when you think about all the ways to be respectful and disrespectful in all the different cultures!!
ReplyDeletei think i'm gonna become a buddhist now. Im'ma play me sum SEPAK TAKRAW!
ReplyDeleteI found this post very informative. It is very interesting to see the differences in cultures!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy learning about foreign cultures. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI study your culture a lot great!
ReplyDeleteI loved learning new things about Thailand.
ReplyDeleteWow I didn't know we exported so much of our culture, but it's a compliment the Thailand that they have also retained their own traditions.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, learned alot about comparisons between Thai and U.S. culture.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent comparison. Sometimes the only way to define something is to contrast it with what it is not.
ReplyDeleteNext time, you might think about linking us to some sites or citing some books/magazine articles/reference works that we can look into for further information and/or fact substantiation.