ABSTRACT
This chapter describes two rites of passage for young people in a remote, rural village in Northeast Thailand: ordination as a monk for young men and childbirth and postpartum rituals for young women. In the Northeast, these rites mark the transitions between socially defined immaturity and social adult maturity. The chapter explores the relationships of men and women to society not as structural oppositions but in terms of discursive practices which position men and women’s power in different ways depending upon the context. Despite rapid social change that promotes many newer forms of feminine and masculine identity through labour migration, small families, education and material success, these rites continue to have social significance in Ban Srisaket. The water serpent naga is also male and has the power to activate the earth’s fertility while Upaakrut, a swamp spirit is also male and once invited into the village space acts to ensure the success of important rituals.
