AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF JULAKATHIN TRADITION IN LAMPHUN PROVINCE

Abstract

A research study on analyzing the development of Julakathin tradition in 
Lamphun Province has 3 objectives: 1. To study Julakathin tradition in Buddhism. 2. 
To study the tradition of Julakathin in Lamphun Province. 3. To analyze the 
Julakathin tradition in Lamphun Province. It is a qualitative research, study from 
primary and secondary documents, and in-depth interviews from a group of 16 key 
information/persons. 
The results showed that the Royal Kathina in Buddhism is the urgent 
Kathina that the Lord Buddha saw with the Buddha's vision that Phra Anuruddha has 
an old and torn robe. He therefore ordered all the monks and laymen to help find 
the retinue in various places to be sewn to make robes in time during the last day of 
the Kathin festival in those days. And in accordance with the legend of Keng Tung, 
that is, there is an elder monk who has practiced asceticism almost past the specified 
time of offering Kathina robes. The goddess is afraid that the elder monk will not 
have the opportunity to receive Kathina, therefore transformed into a human body 
and created a cotton plantation in the middle of the forest, announce to humans and all the angels came to help sew the Kathin robes until it was completed on 
time. The evidence of both stories may be an example of an outline of the offering 
of monk robes in the form of Julakathin to the present day. 
Tradition of Julakthin in Lamphun Province found that Lamphun Province 
has no clear evidence that which temple initiated the tradition. But at present, it has 
been found the temples where the Julakathin tradition is held every year are Wat 
Nong Ruea, Wat Pa Buk, Wat Nong Chedi and Wat San Pa Yang Luang. The ceremony 
was held for 2 days, namely the day of weaving Julakathin and the day of offering 
the Julakathin cloth to the monks who stay in that temple. 
An analysis of Julakathin tradition in Lamphun found that 1) Religious 
value, i.e. the elderly group will be role models who help teach their children to 
understand the virtue of offering the Julakathin cloth as a spiritual anchor; 2) Society: 
seeing the wisdom of the ancestors that have been transferred to the next 
generation, seeing the generosity, sacrifice, and participation of people in the 
community; 3) Tradition: weaving the local textile. There are also other arts such as 
the Kathin procession that requires folk art performances allows young people to 
learn in a good culture; 4) Economic value is to add value by processing cotton into 
higher-value fabrics and generate more income, which can be regarded as promoting 
the basic economic system of the community.