Today our blog hosts the interview that the magazine Contrasti has done with Fabio about Muay Thai.
Was Muay Thai born as a warrior or popular art? And what made it so linked to the culture of first Siam and then Thailand as a whole?
Definitely a warrior’s art used in combat. The Muay thai, in fact, has its origin in the ancient Kingdom of Siam ( the actual Thailand) and, as for the rest of the other martial arts, its origins are lost in the mysterious past made of wars and raids. The traditions of Muay Thai, passed down orally for generations, date back about two thousand years ago, at a time when the Thai people were fighting frequently to affirm and defend their national unity in the area. The discipline is known as “the art of eight weapons” or “the science of eight arts” because it allows you to use combinations of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. The human body, therefore, became the best weapon available to fight against enemies.
Traditions are very important for the peoples in Southeast Asia, and martial arts are also part of their cultural heritage. Does Muay Thai still act as an educational and social tool?
Although Muay Thai has now become an almost consumer sport, especially in the West, its mystical origin here in Thailand has not been lost. This martial art is certainly an important component for a society that lives on traditions and legends. One of these deserves to be told. The well known one tells that Nai Khanom Thom, hereditary prince of the kingdom of Siam in the present Thailand, when he had been taken prisoner by the Burmese, earned his freedom by impressing the king, beating with his bare hands ten of his strongest warriors. Even today, Nai Khanom Thom represents the spirit of the fighter for all Thai people.
Last year, the death of a child, already a veteran of many fights, caused a shock. What do you think, and how are these little fighters raised? Do they fight for survival and for family income, or for ambition and passion?
He’s certainly made a bigger impact in the West than here. In the muban, people’ quarters, young people start practicing Muay Thai at 6/8 years old. For many here, it is a real baptism of fire, which allows them to become men. Usually the best leave their homes (especially from the northeast of the country, the poorest) and reach schools in Bangkok, where they start to fight and earn money, for them and their families. The Muay Thai schools also allow them to have an education, one they would most likely never have had if they had stayed in their country homes.
Is there a link between the art of tattooing, religion, amulets, dances and warrior mythology and Muay Thai?
The origins of the Muay Thai rituals mix Buddhist and animist traditions. Among these we certainly find the Sak Yant – the sacred (and magical) Thai tattoos – the amulets and all the rituals in honor of the Kru – the Master -, the land of the Fathers and the school they belong to, which precede every fight. For this very reason, I believe that practicing Muay Thai also means knowing how to understand and honor what the Thai culture has transmitted to us over the centuries.
What motivated you personally to start practicing this art after years of reportage on war zones?
I did Muay Thai also in the past, in Italy. After years I started to do it again here, in the north of Thailand, where I have been living for a year, when for a job I was doing I met a Kru that fascinated me particularly. “Instructors teach what they know, masters what they are”, says an old saying. I don’t think Muay Thai is a sport at all. On the contrary, I believe that this martial art can help you to rise spiritually, making you a better person than modern society often makes you. Muay Thai represents the one who does not give up in the face of adversity and who, with courage and strength of mind, succeeds in changing events. A concrete link to my work as a reporter, but above all to the stories of courage and determination that I have tried to tell – and I tell – from the confines of the world.
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On the first photo, on the right our Muay Thai teacher Kru Chang
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