Wat Chedi (Ai Khai): Folklore, Development and Construction as a "Sacred Area"

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to analyze the folklore story about Ai Khai; and 2) to analyze the development and construction as "Sacred area”. This was a qualitative research. Through in-depth interviews with 15 key informants, consisting of a group of monks and staff at Chedi Aikhai Temple, group of villagers in the area, merchant group, tourist group and a group of people who came to ask for blessings on the bloom and vow inside Wat Chedi Ai Khai.  It was the designation of a short message to serve as a concept or summary of an idea that reflected its main meaning, both manifest and hidden in that subset of information. Then the topic summarized the concepts that had similar or different meanings. Let's organize a group of topics to summarize ideas, become larger semantic units of information and have a higher level of fairness. It was the use of information from the interview to check the data in a triangular way. The results of the research revealed that 1) in folklore, it was found that people gave the meaning of Wat Chedi Ai Khai as a myth, story, and belief as an area used for Dharma practice, performing religious rituals, alms giving, and making a wish on the property that was lost and wanted it back. It could be seen from the legend of Ai Khai and through songs; and 2) in terms of development and construction of Wat Chedi Ai Khai to become a tourist area and a sacred area by reproducing myths, tales, beliefs, rituals, idol and idolatry of those seeking spiritual refuge as meaningful and communicative symbols between people and the supernatural being by assembling a new one and reproduction. Wat Chedi Ai Khai has been developed into a tourist attraction and the faith of people in different areas. This created added value and was a source of income for people in the community.