Lao Wieng

The Lao Wieng ( Thai ลาว เวียง ) are an ethnic group from the group of the Tai peoples who live in the Northeast ( Isan ) and the central region of Thailand. It owns about 50,000 people (as of 2001). The Lao Wieng settle mainly in the provinces of Prachinburi, Udon Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Chainat, Lopburi, Saraburi, Phetchaburi, Roi Et A considerable number has worked as migrant workers in Bangkok.

Name Variants

The Lao Wieng are also called Tai Wieng ( ไท เวียง ), Lao Vientiane ( ลาว เวียงจันทน์ ), Tai Vientiane ( ไท เวียงจันทน์ ) or simply as Wieng ( เวียง ). These names are used in Laos for the people of Vientiane and their descendants in Thailand. Many people who are in this sense Lao Wieng, see themselves as Isan or Lao.

History

As the name suggests, are the descendants of Lao Lao Wieng from the region Vientiane. After the collapse of Lan Xang in the previous three kingdoms were vassal states of Siam. The King of Vientiane, Anuvong, the supremacy of Bangkok but not accepted and rebelled in 1826. After the victory of Siam in the next war, King Rama III. Completely destroy Vientiane and forced labor in the Khorat Plateau and the Chao Phraya basin, ie on the territory of present-day central and north-east of Thailand, procrastinate a considerable part of its population. During the reign of King Chulalongkorn ( Rama V ), slavery was abolished and the Lao Wieng were Thai citizens.

Culture

The Lao Wieng differ from the general population of the Isan only by their origin, they are now living as either Thai or Isan. Some, however, maintain their own identity through the traditional clothing and their dialect. The pha sin called traditional colorful knee-length dress, which contributed most of Lao- Wieng women well into the 20th century, however, been up on special occasions, by modern everyday clothes as she wears the majority population displaced. Part of the Lao Wieng lives from agriculture, others from hunting and fishing. The meat of the rice field rat, which is caught with traps made ​​of bamboo, the Lao Wieng is considered a delicacy.

The Lao Wieng are predominantly followers of Theravada Buddhism, which she, however, with older animistic elements, such as the worship of household and village spirits mix.