Lanna Life Cycle: Customs from Birth to Death

Heet (รีตฯ, Kham Mueang reading hit) is the word northerners use for custom and tradition, and it is the key to a whole Lanna life, from the day a child opens its eyes to the day the family takes a loved one to the cremation ground. This page is the home of our Lanna life-cycle series: every stage on one map, with Kham Mueang words from the dictionary and a link to each article that is already live.

What are heet and heet hoi?

The dictionary explains heet as a tradition that serves as a social norm, one that people accept and respect until it becomes habit. It belongs to everyday life and has been passed down. Some heet are firm rules that must be followed strictly, and whoever breaks one is said to be phit heet.

The closely related heet hoi (รีตฯรอฯยฯ, hit hoi) means customs in the full sense: manners, rules and ways of behaving that a group sets for itself and keeps for so long that they become its own. The dictionary gives the example of how to behave toward parents and elders at the right time and place. Some of these you can skip without doing wrong, but you may be thought rude.

The dictionary also keeps ja heet (จารีตฯ, cha hit), which also means custom, but it notes that heet is used more often, as in "heet kao", the customs people have long followed.

Pu jan: the leader of rites at every stage

Almost every rite in this series has one person standing at its centre: the pu jan (ปู่จาร์ยฯ, Kham Mueang reading pu jan, also pu a-jan). The dictionary defines him as a makhanayok, the lay leader responsible for all religious ceremonies, from guiding and arranging the place to inviting the precepts and the teaching and the offering of gifts. His partner is the kae wat, who looks after the temple's finances.

You will meet the pu jan in several live articles. At a funeral (a Lanna funeral) he asks the dead for forgiveness, bathes and wraps the body, and leads the procession to the cemetery. In the life-extending rite (Suep Chata) he leads the lay side of the ceremony, and at the big merit festival (Tan Kuai Salak) he gathers and divides the lots.

The map of the Lanna life path

Tap a stage to see its Kham Mueang words, the articles you can read now and the topics on the way. Topics not yet online are greyed out with no link; they become links when they are published.

Read it stage by stage

Birth and childhood

The dictionary says mae man is a pregnant woman and po koet mae koet is the spirit parent of a newborn, from the belief that everyone born into this world once lived in the spirit city and had parents there. La-on simply means a child. Articles on childbirth, the month of lying in, naming, lullabies and the life of temple boys called khayom are in preparation. Meanwhile, find your own birth year and its relic in Birth-year relics.

Ordination

A boy who is about to become a novice is often celebrated first. The dictionary explains that buat luk kaeo is a procession, riding an elephant, a horse or on shoulders, to the homes of relatives. Read every step in Buat Luk Kaeo, and see how the Shan novice ordination differs in Poy Sang Long.

Courtship, marriage and a new house

Kin dong means to marry. Before that day, young men and women spoke in a special courting style, which you can read in Kam u bao u sao. Then comes a home. Khuen huean mai is the merit-making for moving into a new house, and poy khuen huean mai (พอฯยฯขึ้นฯเริอฯรไห่มฯ) is the housewarming, as the dictionary defines them. For the structure and beliefs of the northern timber house, see Huean Kalae.

Growing old and the funeral

Khon thao means an old person. Children and grandchildren ask elders for forgiveness and blessings at New Year in the custom of Dam Hua. For the last stage, the dictionary uses song sa-kan, the rites for laying someone to rest, a way of showing gratitude to the dead. Follow the sequence in a Lanna funeral and see the splendid funeral castle in Funeral castles.

Customs that stay with a person for life

Some rites belong to no single stage: the soul-calling ceremony Hong Khwan, the life-extending rite Suep Chata, the banners given as merit in Tung banners, and the kinship words that tell you who is who in a family in Kinship words.

How to read this series

• Start with the stage you care about. The map above opens any stage, with no need to read in order.
• Look at the words first. Every article has dictionary cards; search more at the Moradok Lanna dictionary.
• Read respectfully. Rites and beliefs differ from place to place, and each article says where its information comes from.
• Come back for new parts. This page gains a link whenever a new article goes online.

Summary

• Heet is the custom northerners keep, heet hoi is the whole body of such customs, and phit heet is breaking them.
• The pu jan is the lay master of ceremonies who leads a community's religious rites, with the kae wat as his partner.
• A Lanna life moves through birth, childhood, ordination, marriage, a new house, old age and the funeral.
• Live now: birth, ordination, marriage, a new house, old age, the funeral and the rites for every stage. Childhood is coming.

Read on with Buat Luk Kaeo or a Lanna funeral, and look up any word at the Moradok Lanna dictionary.

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary: ฮีต · ฮีตฮอย · จ๋าฮีต · ปู่จ๋ารย์ · แก่วัด · แม่มาน · ป้อเกิดแม่เกิด · ละอ่อน · ลูกแก้ว · กิ๋นดอง · ขึ้นเฮือนใหม่ · คนเถ้า · ส่งส๋ะก๋าร
• Details for each stage, with the research sources, are in the articles linked above (in English).