Northern Thailand Culture & Language

Northern culture is Lanna first and Thai second, and the distinction shows in almost everything from the shape of a roof to the sound of a sentence.

Temples

Lanna temple architecture is lower and broader than central Thai, with tiered roofs sweeping close to the ground, teak carving, and gilded stucco. Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai once held the Emerald Buddha and lost its upper stupa to an earthquake in the sixteenth century; the stump is more affecting than a restoration would be. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, on its mountain, is the region’s most venerated site.

Language and script

Kam mueang, the northern dialect, differs enough from central Thai to need subtitles on national television, and the old tai tham script survives on temple inscriptions and in monastic use.

Festivals

Yi Peng and Loi Krathong coincide in November, with lanterns released and baskets floated. Songkran in April is water-throwing on a scale that closes streets for days.

Textiles and craft

Hill-tribe weaving, embroidery and silverwork, each community with its own patterns; Bo Sang’s painted paper umbrellas; celadon pottery; and the lacquerware of San Kamphaeng.

Tattooing

Sak yant, the sacred tattoo applied by monks and lay masters with a long steel needle, is a northern and central Thai tradition combining Buddhist and animist protective geometry with Khmer script. It is taken seriously as a religious act rather than decoration, carries obligations on the person tattooed, and the designs are not supposed to be chosen on aesthetic grounds — which is why the practice sits awkwardly with its popularity among visitors.

Music and dance

Fon lep, the fingernail dance performed with brass extensions, and the sueng and salo string instruments of Lanna ensembles.

Thai is the official language, and in the north most people also speak kam mueang, the northern dialect, among themselves. It differs enough in tone and vocabulary that central Thais do not always follow it, and locals are pleased when a visitor knows it exists.

English is widely spoken in Chiang Mai’s tourism, hospitality and coffee trade, and less so in the smaller towns and villages.

Hill-tribe languages — Karen, Hmong, Akha, Lahu, Lisu — are unrelated to Thai, and many highland people speak Thai as a second language.

Thai is tonal, with five tones, and getting them wrong changes the word entirely. Useful: sawatdee khrap from a man and sawatdee kha from a woman for hello, khop khun for thank you with the same ending, and mai phet for not spicy.

In the north, sawatdee jao is the local form and is warmly received.