SECTION TWO
5
Piyanan Petcharaburanin and Alisa Saisavetvaree
Cambodian, or Khmer, culture has had a profound influence on the art and culture of its mainland Southeast Asian neighbors, particularly Thailand. Both Khmer and Thai culture were in turn profoundly influenced by widespread, early contact with the Hindu-Buddhist belief systems of India. One important example is Thailand’s astrological system, which was adopted from Khmer concepts based on Hindu cosmology and which associates a particular color with each day of the week, based on the color associated with the deity who protects that particular day, as follows:
Surya is the Hindu sun god. In Hindu cosmology, he presides over Sunday. Chandra is the word for moon in Sanskrit, Hindi, and other Indian languages, of which he is the god. In addition, Chandra is identified with the Vedic lunar deity Soma. As Soma, he presides over Somvar or Monday. Mangala is the Sanskrit name for Mars, the red planet. He presides over Mangala-varam or Tuesday. In Hindu mythology, Budha—not to be confused with the founder of Buddhism—is the name of the planet Mercury. Budha presides over Budhavara or Wednesday. Brihaspati is the regent of Jupiter and is often identified with that planet. He presides over Guru-var or Thursday. Shukra is identified as the planet Venus. He presides over Shukravar (also known as Devanagari) or Friday. Shani, the son of Surya, is embodied in the planet Saturn and is the Lord of Saturday.
Both Thai and foreign journals and memoirs show that men and women associated with the Siamese royal court in the Ayutthaya era (1350–1767) chose the colors of their daily clothing with these associations in mind, both to differentiate themselves from those of lower status and to bring good fortune. Specific patterns and colors were, in fact, restricted to the court or to the king and his immediate family.
In battle, during the Ayutthaya era, male courtiers would wear specific colors, which were thought to bring them victory. This practice of wearing particular colors on a given day survived until the end of the Ayutthaya period and was carried over into the Rattanokosin era, which began in 1787. During the reign of King Rama II (r. 1809–1824), the UNESCO-recognized poet Sunthorn Phu (1786–1855) compiled his “poetic guide” or “guide in verse” to princely conduct and upright behavior that was first published around 1821 and is still taught in Thai schools today.
Sunthorn Phu based his poem on an earlier Sawasdi Raksa, composed in the Ayutthaya period in an archaic poetry style called chan that was difficult to understand. Sunthorn Phu’s newer, more comprehensible poem shared the same concepts as the original, including the scheme of specific colors recommended for each day of the week. Astrologers would refer to this scheme and pick the most auspicious hues for each day’s battle tunics.
According to Sawasdi Raksa, the proper manners of a gentleman are as follows:
After getting out of bed in the morning, you must refrain from anger. Turn your face towards the East and South, and pronounce three times an incantation according to the Buddhist formula over the water for washing your face …
When wearing a phanung, or loin-cloth, after twisting its two ends together in front, one end is tucked finally on the right side, you will be free from harm of crocodiles and other beasts …
When going to war, you must select the auspicious color matched to each day of the week.
Sunday: Red is auspicious
Monday: Light yellow is to have a long life
Tuesday: Purple is lucky
Wednesday: Yellow-red or glittering multi-colored
Thursday: Yellow-green
Friday: Bluish-gray
Saturday: Black is a terror to the enemy
(Sriyaphai and Narakorn 1977: 214–215)
In the nineteenth century, both men and women of the court adopted the practice of wearing particular colors on a given day as a daily custom. This was most easily followed in women’s dress.
At first, fashionable court women followed the auspicious colors for each day by wearing one shade for the hip wrapper and another for the shoulder cloth. Later, it became fashionable to highlight the day’s color with a garment of a contrasting color. For example, on Sundays, associated with red, many women would highlight a red hip wrapper by wearing a green shoulder cloth, or vice versa. Since red and green are complimentary colors, the juxtaposition of green with red would make the red stand out all the more while also pleasing the eye.
This tradition was especially popular during the reign of King Rama V (r. 1868–1910) as attested by several sources. According to the king’s niece HSH Princess Chong Chitra Thanom Diskul (1886–1978), the women in the court matched their shoulder cloths with hip wrappers following the lucky colors of each day and took care to wear different colors on the top and bottom. Wearing a single shade, while not incorrect, was considered less beautiful and fashionable.
Although the colors associated with a particular day are based on the Hindu cosmological system as described earlier, traditional Thai color names are normally taken from natural objects such as flowers, plants, and animals.
As described in the princess’s memoirs, the chart of auspicious colors was as follows:
Sunday: A bright green bottom with a ruby-red top or a lychee-red bottom with a yellow-green top (Plate 5.1a);
Monday: A pale yellow bottom with a blue or reddish-pink top or a dove-gray bottom with a yellow-orange top (Plate 5.1b);
Tuesday: A light green bottom with a purple top or a mauve bottom with a light green top (Plate 5.1c);
Wednesday: A steel-gray bottom with a deep, pea-green top or a soft orange top with a dark green bottom (Plate 5.1d);
Thursday: An orange bottom with a pale yellow-green top or a light blue-green bottom with a ruby-red top (Plate 5.1e);
Friday: A royal blue bottom with a bright yellow top (Plate 5.1f);
Saturday: A purple bottom with a chartreuse top (Plate 5.1g).
In addition, for Buddhist holy days a red bottom with a pink top was considered appropriate.
Temple murals also attest to these traditions. For example, a mural painting at Matchimawat Temple, Songkla Province, southern Thailand, which dates c. 1851–1868, depicts a court woman wearing red and green on Sunday. A mural painting at the Mahasamanaram Temple in the Petchaburi Province of western Thailand from the same period illustrates court women wearing yellow-orange and dove-gray indicating the scene is taking place on a Monday.
According to Emile Jottrand, a Belgian legal adviser to the Siamese Ministry of Justice from 1898 to 1902, men at the court of King Rama V were also continuing to match the colors of their clothes to the day of the week.
29 Sept. 1899. Earlier in the Court, I ask for an interpreter to accompany me to an office situated in the enclosure of the King’s Palace. The interpreter excuses himself, saying that he will not be admitted dressed in a red phanung [a formal hip wrapper], the color red being exclusively reserved during Sundays for the King and the princes.
This forces me to call for an interpreter dressed in a blue phanung. Thus, I have come to learn that each day of the week has a color which is exclusively reserved for it: on Sundays the phanung is red; on Mondays yellow; on Tuesdays it is deep blue; on Wednesdays scarlet, on Thursdays green; on Fridays gray, and on Saturdays black. The Siamese may wear these colors at home, or in the city, but they cannot enter the palace dressed in this fashion, except if they are princes. (Jottrand 1996: 214–215)
Jottrand’s description of the color of each day follows those from the old Sawasdi Raksa, composed in the Ayutthaya period. These colors do not fully correspond to actual practice in the Rattanakosin era, which associated yellow-red, not green, with Wednesday, and black, not purple, with Saturday. Thus, it seems likely that in that period male aristocrats and courtiers were adhering to one color tradition and fashionable women of the court were following another, newer one. It is the latter system that forms the basis of modern concepts of daily color associations in Thailand today.
The women of the court were famed not only for their colors in fashion, but also for their skill at caring for textiles. In addition to being carefully washed, their fabrics were routinely glazed, pleated, and perfumed—procedures that were performed in the inner court. These royal women occasionally carried out such activities themselves, but more often their servants did the work under their direction.
Several cleaning methods were used, depending on what each textile was made from and where it was worn on the body. Large silk brocade or painted cotton hip wrappers were commonly washed one at a time in boiling water scented with sweet Madagascar jasmine. Sticks or small paddles were used to agitate the textile and loosen the dirt. Fenugreek seeds were also added to the water before the textile was immersed; their sticky mucilage stiffened the fabric and allowed it to be glazed with a shiny finish.
Breast wrappers and shoulder cloths were both less dirty and made of more delicate fabrics than hip wrappers. They were most often given a simple soak in clean water. Similarly, gold brocade, gold net, and gold-embroidered textiles used as hip and breast wrappers or shoulder cloths were too fragile to be washed in boiling water. Instead, they were spread flat so their gold threads would not break, soaked in coconut water, rinsed in clean water, and dried.
After washing and drying, the cloths, especially hip wrappers, were spread flat and polished to make them shiny—a feature prized by the court. The shine came from fenugreek mucilage deposited on the fabric during washing, which created a glossy finish when it was buffed with a smooth, rounded tool, often formed from cowrie shells but also agate, glass bottles, or even small cannonballs.
Women of the court always perfumed their colored shoulder cloths and hip wrappers before getting dressed. It was said that the sweet fragrance lingered long after they had left a room. They scented their textiles using traditional methods of burning aromatics and creating perfumed waters and oils, employing a wide range of ingredients that were grown domestically or obtained through trade. The wearer’s favorite fresh flowers, such as Chinese rice flower, ylang-ylang, and different kinds of jasmine, were selected to make scented water.
The perfumed cloths were usually stored in closed wooden boxes to help the fragrance last longer. Again fresh flowers, such as salapee, Chinese rice flower, ylang-ylang, and different kinds of jasmine, were often added to the box. Scented cheesecloth was also used instead of fresh flowers.
Washed, glazed, and perfumed hip and breast wrappers were smoothed with a wood-pressing implement. Shoulder cloths were pleated both by hand and with a special press. Two people were needed to hand-pleat a shoulder cloth, one on each side holding it taut while folding it. The fabric was then placed in a heavy wood press, which set the pleats. A raang jeeb, a tool with bamboo teeth between which the fabric was inserted, was also used to pleat shoulder cloths.
The color tradition probably remained in force until the end of the reign of King Rama V, who died in 1910. However, King Rama V’s reign also saw the gradual Westernization of court dress. The Hindu-derived practice of wearing specific colors for each day of the week was gradually abandoned by the Thai court during the reign of his successor, King Rama VI (r. 1910–1925), as their dress continued to Westernize. By the early 1930s, court dress was fully Western, or nearly so. The color traditions, however, were in some measure revived under Thailand’s present monarch HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej (r. 1946–present) and his wife, HM Queen Sirikit.
His Majesty King Bhumibol ascended the throne in 1946 when he was nineteen years old. Four years later, in 1950, He married seventeen-year-old Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to France. In their early years on the throne, Their Majesties made official visits to almost every part of the country to learn about the challenges faced by ordinary Thais. In the late 1950s, they began to travel abroad, starting with neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar (Burma).
In 1960, Their Majesties began a series of state visits to the United States and fourteen European countries. This ambitious undertaking lasted seven months. The Queen, who devoted considerable effort and thought to her tour wardrobe, was eager to have “traditional” attire that was recognizably Thai to wear during the tour. However, since Thai clothing had become Westernized, there was no longer a characteristically Thai court dress for the Queen to wear. Therefore, Her Majesty, with the help of an advisory team that included historians, designers, dressmakers, and ladies-in-waiting worked to create an entirely new version of “Thai national dress” that combined elements of nineteenth-century court dress with modern tailoring. Over the course of about two years, eight different styles made of handwoven Thai textiles, of varying degrees of formality, were designed to be worn on a wide variety of occasions. The Eight Styles are known in Thai as Phra Rajaniyom (“Royal Favor”). This wardrobe was so successful on the royal tour that other Thai women began to wear it (Figure 5.1a–h).
Figure 5.1 The Eight Styles known as Phra Rajaniyom (“Royal Favor”). © Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles.
5.1a Thai Ruean Ton: The most informal of The Eight Styles, it is the popular attire for Thai women attending engagement parties or religious ceremonies and as uniforms for those in the hospitality industry.
5.1b Thai Chitralada: This long-sleeved, high-collared silk jacket and long plain silk or silk brocade wrap skirt is formal daytime attire.
5.1c Thai Amarin: This dress is similar in appearance to Thai Chitralada, but more formal because it is made from silver or gold brocade. It is worn for welcoming parties, balls, or a Royal birthday procession.
5.1d Thai Boromphiman: This one-piece dress is worn for formal events and official ceremonies. Royal brides can also wear it.
5.1e Thai Chakri: This style features a skirt with a front pleat and an attached traditional Thai shoulder cloth. It is worn for Royal ceremonies, but brides-to-be may also wear it for daytime engagement or wedding ceremonies.
5.1f Thai Dusit: This formal attire is made of gold brocade with an elaborately embroidered bodice.
5.1g Thai Chakraphat: This style of dress is usually worn for formal banquets and official dinners.
5.1h Thai Siwalai: This dress is worn for Royal ceremonies or formal day or evening functions.
Besides Thai style dresses, Her Majesty also commissioned a wardrobe of Western fashion design by French couturier Pierre Balmain for the 1960 tour. The Queen needed the proper clothes for every occasion depending on conventional Western dress etiquette for royalty. It was Her Majesty’s dressmaker Urai Lueumrung who suggested She consider Pierre Balmain’s work in 1959. After talking to him and looking at the sketches, Their Majesties were satisfied with them and decided to have him create both Western and Thai wardrobes for the state visits.
Balmain lent a certain “Thainess” to his work for the Queen by using handwoven Thai silk purchased from Jim Thompson’s Bangkok-based company in many of Her Majesty’s ensembles. Working with Thai designers and the Queen, some of Balmain’s works were inspired by traditional Thai dress, for example, the Thai Chakri–Chong Kraben variation and the Thai variation with double sabai tails. The Thai Chakri—Chong Kraben variation is the tailored ensemble suggestive of traditional wrapped and draped garments. However, the shoulder cloth (sabai) is sewn into the side seam of the bodice and the short, unsewn trousers (chong kraben) are tailored into knee-length breeches gathered into a waistband from which hang ornamental panels. The Thai variation with double sabai tails is a dress of metallic brocade and decorated with traditional gold net and beads (Leventon and Gluckman 2012).
As reported by many of the journalists who covered the royal couple during the state tour, Balmain worked traditional Thai color symbolism into his designs for the Queen’s Western wardrobe. From this point, the Thai tradition of certain colors being associated with particular days of the week became newsworthy.
She dresses in Western style in the daytime but reverts to tradition in Paris-made Eastern garments at night. The Queen’s 24 trunks are packed with dresses that are a different color for every day of the week. The colors are: Sunday, red; Monday, yellow; Tuesday, pink; Wednesday, green; Thursday, orange; Friday, blue; and Saturday, mauve. (Sydney Sun, NSW, Australia 1960)
The press was fascinated by this story. Many newspapers talked about Balmain’s designs being keyed to the belief in Thailand of auspicious colors for each day (Leventon 2016). Although there is little evidence to suggest that the Queen actually took them into consideration when choosing what to wear on any given day, there is evidence that Her Majesty did include some outfits that followed the tradition of wearing auspicious colors (Plate 5.2).
Specific colors have, however, become associated with individual members of the royal family, according to the day of the week on which they were born. His Majesty the King, for instance, was born on Monday so his color is yellow; the color for Her Majesty is blue because she was born on Friday August 12, 1932 (Plate 5.3). Therefore, every twelfth of August there is a ceremony to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday for which many Thais wear blue shirts or dresses.
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the second daughter of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, was born on Saturday, April 2, 1952, so her assigned color is violet. Princess Sirindhorn does often wear violet for official engagements on Saturday, as evidenced by the red-violet silk dress worn to an exhibition opening at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles on Saturday, May 30, 2015. In her honor, event attendees and museum staff also wore shades of violet.
Royal color associations can also spread beyond dress. For example, for Loi Krathong, a festival in November where people release baskets decorated with candles, incense, and flowers onto the water to pay respect to the goddess of water, Their Majesties’ baskets are decorated with flowers in the color of their respective birthdays. The royal flags for Their Majesties, which bear the ciphers of HM King Bhumibol and HM Queen Sirikit, are also color-coded according to their birth dates.
The cosmological system of colors associated with days of the week has roots in the tenth-century Hinduized Khmer kingdoms of Thailand, which continued in various forms to the beginning of the current dynasty in the late eighteenth century. This tradition still remains in the court after 160 years, although the practice has been modified over time. Most Thais are still aware of this and many, even today, will sometimes wear a color associated with the day of their birth for good luck.
References
Jottrand, E. (1996), In Siam, Bangkok: White Lotus Press.
Leventon, M. (2016), Fit for a Queen, Thailand: River Press.
Leventon, M. and D. C. Gluckman (2012), In Royal Fashion: The Style of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand, Bangkok: Siri Wattana Inter Print Co., Ltd.
Sriyaphai, C. and N. Narakorn (1977), Sunthorn Phu’s Poetic Guides, Bangkok: Klang Wittaya.