Fatalism in Village Thailand

Abstract

Viewing life with perhaps greater optimism than some of their Asian neighbors, these Thai villagers find their own mundane efforts adequate for many, but by no means all, of life's difficulties and uncertainties. Beyond their secular efforts, however, they perceive human experience as determined, but in a very general, nebulous manner which defies easy description or tidy classification. Many events contain portents, which most villagers are too practical to ignore, though they examine such signs with discriminate skepticism. To indicate the place of fatalism in the lives of these villagers, I shall review some of their terms for fatalism; note some relationships with beliefs in karma; describe a few forms of divination with which they try to ascertain their fate; analyze some of their beliefs and practices as they respond to predictions of their fate; speculate on some differences in their ideal and real orientations toward fatalism; and suggest a cultural ecological interpretation of Thai village fatalism. Most of the data reported in this article were gathered during fifteen months of residence in Sagatiam in 1959-60. After accepting the headpriest's offer of temporary use of land, we had a small house built on one edge of the spacious compound of the village temple, from which my family and I enjoyed easy access to a wide range of village life-religious, communal, school activities, and constant casual visitors on their way to or from the temple. The village contains about 1800 people in nine administrative hamlets (muubaan) who support the village Buddhist temple and whose children attend the government school in the temple. An