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Tai Dam Origin Myth |
Introduction. On the following pages, we present a text and translation of Kwam Toe Muang /kwam2 to4 mfuaN4/, the Tai Dam Origin Myth, their original cosmology or understanding of the ordering of the universe. The word Kwam (Siamese "Khwaam") means 'story or history'; Toe means 'to tell'; Muang means 'country, kingdom, world.' This creation myth comes out of an ancient oral tradition in which the story was passed down by memory from one generation to the next. It is recited when Black Tai gather to say farewell to a family member who has just died. It is believed that the recitation will guide the kwan or 'soul substance' of the deceased back to their ancestors who reside in the Muang Fa or Land of the Heavens, along with the Thaen "Lords of the Heavens", who inhabit their own special territories in that realm in the sky. Social class distinctions of the Tai Dam are replicated in the afterlife, separating nobles from commoners. It is the duty of the eldest son-in-law, who has already established his own separate household, to recite the Kwam Toe Muang at the funeral rite. It is he who directs the dead to their final destination. There are local variants of the myth, but the general outlines of each are the same. The telling of this story begins by depicting the original state of the
creation of the cosmos as one where the Earth /din1/ and the Heavens or Skies
/faa6/ were joined by a chord that held both so close together that daily
activities like pounding rice were impeded.* The sky was so low that
the upward-pointing horns of the buffalo got entangled whenever it tried to
walk. To bring an end to this intolerable state, an ancestral pair, the
first grandparents, Pu Kong Fa,
"Bent-Over Grandfather of the Sky," and Ya
Kong Din "Bent-Over Grandmother of the Earth" cut the connecting
chord, permitting freedom of movement and activity in a single, dramatic
instrumental act, a kind of iconic declaration that humans do have some
control over the environment. The sky then floated well above the earth
so that the Thaen could see far and wide.
There were rice fields, but there were no irrigation canals; there
were petty states but no rulers to govern them. People fought and
killed each other off. A devastating drought came, turning the sky
bright orange and the sun black. All plants and animals died. Once
again the ancestral Grandfather and Grandmother interceded, this time
engaging in elaborate magical rituals with rare birds, snakes, vegetation and
twigs, causing the skies to darken and then to blaze forth with so much
lightening that the sky was brightly lit up even during the middle of the
night. Rains fell incessantly, completely covering the mountains.
No dry land could be seen for three months. All the animal life on
earth had died, with the exception of a single duck -
and a lone chicken, who rode on the duck's back. Once the waters
receded, the chicken, out of gratitude, sat on the newly-laid eggs of the
duck until they hatched. In the heavens, four gourds as big as a house were
readied and placed on the receding waters. In them were placed 550
clans of Tai, 330 clans of hill peoples, 330 varieties of rice, 310 kinds of
fishes, and every kind of animal, bird and serpent was stocked as well.
In addition, there were books to read for pleasure; books for shamans,
astrologers, and fortune tellers; and books detailing customs, festivals, and
laws. After three months, the waters had receded, and the gourds
settled on dry land in different Muang: pen1 sam1-niang4 kwam4 vaw6.....It
is our distinct language which is * According to Sumitr
Pitiphat (1980:35), the Tai Dam believe that the
connecting chord's original location was the region of the Tat Pi Fai Waterfall in Muang La or Sonla. This is is also
the point to which the dead are directed so that they can ascend to the
Heavens to rejoin their ancestors. For more details on Tai Dam beliefs,
see Sumitr's excellent article, "Black Tai
Religion and Beliefs," Journal of the Siam Society 68.1 (Jan.
1980), pp 29-38. |
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Contents |
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Origin Myth (in Tai Dam Language) |
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Origin Myth (Translation) |
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