Thailand Culture
Travel to Amazing Thailand: Understanding the Thailand Culture
Thailand is one of the most exotic places in the world. Here you will find a mixture of cultures of the orient. Although Thailand culture, like any other cultures all around the world is already much affected by western ideals, the strong influence of Buddhism and Hinduism is still very much evident.
For instance, the visual art which is one of the signatures of Thailand culture is still shows the strong influence of Buddhism. In fact, many buildings all over Thailand still have images and statues of Buddha. To understand a few things about Thailand culture, let us look into the different cultural aspects of the place.
Region as Part of Thailand Culture
Thailand will not be complete without its religions and religious practices. Like most parts of Asia, religion in one of the focal points of the lives of the Thais. If you look at the statistics, about 95% of the people in Thailand are Theravada Buddhist. The minority of the people are a composed of 4.6% Muslims and 0.7% Christians.
Since Thailand culture hinge on the ideas of Buddhism, the government of Thailand supports Thai Theravada Buddhism. The monks in this place therefore receive some government benefits such as free public transportation and the use of some public infrastructure. Technically, there is no strong separation of the church and the state under the Thailand culture.
Cuisine
Food is one of the hallmarks of Thailand culture. According to food experts, the Thai cuisine is a mixture of four fundamental taste namely, sweet, spicy, sour and salty. Most Thai cooking combine all these four fundamental taste. Aside from combining all four fundamental tastes, Thai cooking is also known for its hot flavor. Of course their blend of hot flavor is not really as hot as the Mexican version but if you are sensitive to chili anything hot on your food, you better take precautions before sampling some types of Thai food.
Customs
The Thailand culture is filled with distinctive customs and traditions. One of the most popular Thai custom is the wai which is a form of greeting or acknowledgement. This type of gesture is like the Indian namaste gesture, which is characterized by a prayer hand position and the bowing of the head. Usually, this gesture is used to welcome visitors and friends so if you are planning to go to Thailand, you need to be familiar with this type of greeting. You don’t really want to feel out place when meeting new friends.