Local identity in the literature of Sodapoi, Nan Province

Abstract

This article studied local identities presented in Sawdapoi, a folk literature of Nan province. The study analyzed 6 documents concerning the Sawdapoi of Nan province collected from both past and present Saw singers in Nan province. The results of the study suggested three distinctive types of identities, namely 1. local identities concerning Buddhism beliefs about the merit of giving, Buddhist gods, and the comparison between the eight necessities of a Buddhist monk and gratefulness towards fathers and mother; 2. a local identities with respect to local community lifestyles, which exhibited the culture of nurturing postpartum mothers, everyday objects used by Nan people, which were found in the ordain cerebration, and reflecting the local wisdoms of past lifestyles of the Nan people; 3. local identities concerning language of which the Nan dialect is used throughout the Sawdapoi. Thus, the three distinctive identities reflected the identities of the Nan people which have intertwined with language, traditions, society and lifestyles with Buddhism by means of the folk literature Sawdapoi of Nan Province