Title : The Myths of Chao Pho Pak Hueng: The Dynamic of the Sacred Narratives and the Construction of Social Space in Thai-Lao Border Communities

Author(s) : Payungporn Nonthavisarut and Pathom Hongsuwan

Pages : 14-34

Abstract in English : This article is responding to 2 questions: 1) what roles do the myths of Chao Pho Pak Hueng (Chao Ong Luang) (เจ้าพ่อปากเหืองหรือเจ้าองค์หลวง), the sacred narratives found near the Thai-Lao borderland in the Pak Hueng community of Chiangkhan district, Loei province, Thailand and in the Pak Nam Hueng community of Ken Thao, Xayabouly Province, Laos, play in constructing a physical sacred space and a spiritual sacred space through personal symbols, objects, places and rituals, and culturally, what do they communicate?; 2) what roles do the dynamic sacred narratives on Chao Pho Pak Hueng play in constructing a social space for the Thai-Lao borderland people in relation to the social and the political contexts? The analysis was based on symbols, symbolic meanings, concepts of sacred space and social space.