Cross-culture took on a WHOLE new meaning this last weekend, when I attended the Lanna Medieval Festival here in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Gotta say it was a decidedly odd experience, having lived here in Asia for roundabout 20 years now and previously understood "cross-culture" to almost-exclusively be about Thai vs another somewhat-threatening tourist-ethnic group.
What stunned me the most? How much cosplay is thoroughly embraced by some, and actually how many people really got into it!
Why was I there at all? haha... I was invited to be a vendor at the festival because my business, Pure Thai Natural Co Ltd makes hand-made beeswax balms, pretty much still made the way they would have been made in the middle ages.
I was asked twice to be a vendor, and declined, assuming it would be a tiny event and not really worth my while And then the third person who asked me was really passionate about the size of the living history community. And in talking to her I became curious and re-engaged with my own history-buff self, who thoroughly loved medieval and renaissance literature and music and university. And that's how I got there.
HUNDREDS of people attended across both days and a remarkable number of them came in costume. Our friend, Meghan, impressed me most with her medieval huntress. My Artemis-adoring self was wowed by her attention to detail.😆
The guy who hand-made a replica (not working) gun, complete with the little gun-powder kegs slung across his chest? Wow. I'm thinking the cosplay and re-enactment community leans towards retired people with plenty of time.
Some ethnic Lahu friends were there, also as vendors.
They pretty much grow their vegetables and fruits on terraces in the mountains around Chiang Mai, in the old slo-mo way. Only so many of the things they had for sale weren't even HERE in the middle ages... potatoes, carrots, peruvian ground cherries, tomatoes, peas, corn, pineapples, pumpkin... they were all introduced by the Portuguese and the Dutch traders in the last century or two. The magnificent organic mountain coffee they were selling? Introduced into Thailand only in the last 30 years or so by the previous Thai King Bhumibol, Rama IX.
But as I watched our friend, Jukatae, repairing a bamboo ladder I'm guessing the techniques aren't much different, only the machete probably MUCH easier to acquire!
The people who got into the cosplay the most were predominantly American expats who all had the luxury of education. Our Lahu friends quietly admitted to knowing almost nothing about the history of middle ages, and were somewhat bemused.
Reflecting later about the whole strangeness of medieval play-time in the middle of post-covid Thailand, I decided it is a hallmark of a culture moving away from subsistence, where every moment of every day is about survival. As a culture grows in resources and is no longer at war, it has the luxury of frivolity, reflection and education beyond the essentials which enable the acquiring of daily necessities.
Will I go again next year? LOL... probably. Actually they are a very cool bunch of interesting people, who are curious about other worlds and times and enjoy the value of traditions and the way things used to be done.
Enriched & Informed. And planning a costume... 😁
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