Meaning Alteration of Thai Sacred Tattooing in the North of Thailand

Abstract

In this article, the author has paid attention to the changing of Thai sacred tattooing’s meaning in social contexts, economy and globalization. It seems like the foreigners who come to travel or move to stay in Thailand starting to be interested in Thai sacred tattoos more than before and they often get the ones that help to have a better fortune and good at trading. The author believes that the future trend of Thai sacred tattooing will be constantly increasing as modern societies begin to become more receptive in tattoos, no matter it is tattooed in women or men. People also started to respect more and more in the individual rights. Nowadays, there is a group of the foreigners who have come to get tattoos at the sacred tattoo masters’ house in Chiang Mai or even inviting the tattoo masters to go tattooing to the ones who are interested and believed in sacred tattooing abroad. The author thus sees that these phenomena, meaning, and the changes are worth investigating in the author's thesis.