Honorary Belt, Birth Scripts, and Miscellaneous Records: Between “History” and “Memory” of Commoner Family Rinya, the Medicine Master

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between history and memory through the lens of family heirlooms belonging to the "Rinya" family, the author’s commoner family recognized as medicine master’s for at least four generations. By examining three primary artifacts—an honorary belt, birth scripts, and ancestral miscellaneous records—this study aims to: 1) analyze the social and cultural meanings and implications underlying these family heirlooms, and 2) explore the boundaries between "memory" and "history" as mediated through these objects.

The findings reveal that: (1) the birth scripts serve as crucial artifacts for asserting social status and defining individual identity as a new member of society within Lanna culture, a practice common across all families. Conversely, the honorary belt and ancestral miscellaneous records reflect the transmission of specialized social status within a lineage possessing expert knowledge, specifically the "healing" skill used to treat individual and communal anomalies. (2) The Rinya family heirlooms illustrate the blurred boundaries between memory and history on at least two levels: between private family memory and communal history, and between communal memory and Lanna history during significant political transitions throughout the 25th Buddhist Century. These include the invasion of Chao Fa Kolan, the Kruba Sriwichai movement, World War II, and the Thai Cultural Mandates.

Ultimately, while these artifacts highlight the fluidity between memory and history, it is these commoner heirlooms that serve as vital evidence in completing the historical narratives of Lanna and Thailand. They open new discursive spaces for the possibility of "history from below" within the Thai context.