Phetchaburi Preaching Canopies: Dynamic of Traditional Woodcraft Culture in Local Cultural Context

Abstract

The article investigates the dynamic of Phetchaburi traditional woodcraft schools in the most popular period (1857-1957) called “traditional craftsmanship in the period of bourgeois’ fostering”. I used preaching canopies as a part of woodcraft popularity collaborated with other craftsmanship as much still prevailing in local areas. Through fieldwork surveys and data collection in the core city of Phetchaburi and outer cities, I found more than 50 preaching canopies, which suggests a huge stream of Buddhism crafts. Traditional woodcraft of Phetchaburi schools was flourished under particular cultural, economic and social conditions. The four significant traditional woodcraft schools in Phetchaburi include Wat Yang, Wat Koh, Wat Phra-throng, and Wat Phlapphlachai. I argue that economic and social conditions, especially the changing faces of education and labor market in Phetchaburi capital city have been the major factors affecting the art existence and determining the dynamic of woodcraft culture in local contexts from the high prosperity in the beginning to the decline of Phetchaburi work of art in the present day.