“Ai Khai” Wat Chedi: Perspectives of Meaning Creation as the “Sacred Space”

Abstract

This article is part of the study entitled “Ai Khai Wat Chedi: A New Form of Merit Making and Reproduction of Sacred Space” with an aim to study the meaning creation of “sacred space” of Wat Chedi Ai Khai. It was designed as a qualitative research. The data for the study were collected for related documents and interviews of the temple committee and officials that took care of Wat Chedi, the villagers living in the temple area and the tourists visiting the temple. The research site was Wat Chedi Ai Khai and the areas in the Cha-long Sub-district, Sichon District, Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The findings revealed that 1) The perspective on community narratives and the resulting belief about Ai Khai Wat Chedi as sacred space were originated from the definition given to meaning of space of Ai Khai Wat Chedi from the belief that narratives could be used to create the community identity as the spiritual anchor by praying for blessings such as fortune, lost and found, health through the exoteric perspectives of outside people in explaining the meaning of worshippers coming to pray and ask for such blessings at the temple 2) Creation of sacred space of Wat Chedi Ai Khai from the existing cultural capital for the benefit of the community resulted from the arrival of a large number of tourists and people. Thus, Ai Khai Wat Chedi has become a tourist attraction with the supportive evidence of the emerging cultural capital no matter whether it is a countless number of stucco chickens in the temple area, fragments of firecrackers piling up higher than a person’s height and sacred objects that are reproduced four times within a month influenced by the firm belief and faith of the people leading to increased revenue that boosts the community economy. People living in the area of Wat Chedi Ai Khai both those selling local products in the temple compound and others on the five routes to the temple from Nakhon Si Thammarat-Sutatthani Road leading to the entrance to Wat Chedi Ai Khai with 97 shops surrounding the temple selling all types of offerings. Wat Chedi Ai Khai thus reveals the esoteric perspective as the space for livelihood making of the villagers. Besides, the temple is the space of religious activities of Buddhist monks. Therefore, Wat Chedi Ai Khai has continuously obtained financial donations to renovate the temple in an act to preserve Buddhism.