Chakri Day or the "Big Day" in Thailand
Wednesday, April 6, Chakri Day is celebrated. This is not a celebration in honor of a Buddha event, but the commemoration of the origin of the Chakri dynasty since the year 1782.
His Royal Highness Bhumibol Adulyadej is the 9e king of this Chakri dynasty and is very loved by the people. The celebrations take place in the royal chapel and the previous generations are remembered and honored; a wreath is laid at the monument of Rama 1 at the Memorial Bridge in Bangkok.
Rama I is the founder of the Chakri dynasty and responsible for the creation of the kingdom with Bangkok as the capital of the country. Before then, the country was ravaged by Burmese troops and responsible for the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. However, this did not last long as Thong Duang (known as Chakri) took control and a Siamese army in the vicinity of Thonburi on the brought leg.
The then king Taksin was more interested in religion than concerned with the unity and security of the country, so that a change of throne was achieved quite easily. Chakri was crowned King Ramathibodi and reigned as King Rama I (he received this title only after his death) in 1782. Chakri, as a soldier, understood that Thonburi was not an easy place to defend against the Burmese army and moved with his army across the Chao Phraya River to establish the new capital of Siam there. Many materials from the former capital Ayutthaya, such as stones from the fortress walls, were used for the new capital. In order not to forget the old former unity, old ceremonies were restored, such as the coronation day and the oath of allegiance.
On the Chakri Day, April 6, seminars will be held to promote the importance of the royal family, exhibitions will be held and a wreath-laying ceremony for King Rama I, flag flying on government buildings and a day off for the people to give them the opportunity to appreciate show for the royal family. Flowers will be laid at statues of King Rama I. The Chakri day is the only day of the year that the Pantheon at the royal palace is open to the public. Life-size statues of the first eight kings of the Chakri dynasty are displayed in this building. Banks, schools and government offices will be closed on Chakri Day.
Hello…
I would like to respond to this… as a resident of this country I respect the Royal Family… I am a guest here and adapt myself…
But what always amazes me is the "worship" of the Thai for their king… I keep listening in amazement to my girlfriend, who, while listening to Thailand got's talent on TV, without a second think the whole Chakri dynasty can tell, in detail…
Rama 5 is still worshiped here as a demigod, the king on his horse… every Thai is imbued with that, in a way I sometimes don't understand…
A few days ago it was Princess Sirindhorn's 60th birthday… the government is announcing a year of celebration in her honour… she was born on a Saturday, and the appropriate color for that day is purple…
Purple didn't understand my friend, but she searched the room until she came out with something purple. She said, this is the color…
Thai, I will never really understand them, don't talk about Deep Purple or Pink Floyd… but they know the history of their royal family better than a history book!!!
Rudy
The Thais know the history of their royal family? Well, ask how many children the Crown Prince has. One says 3.., maybe 5? There are 8! Also ask how King Bumipol's older brother died. Can you all ask….
I don't think, Louis, you have portrayed the part of King Taksin very well. Taksin is often written out of Thai history.
It was really Taksin who liberated Siam from the Burmese. Thong Duang, later Chao Phraya Chakri was a general but not of royal blood and an old friend of King Taksin. Nevertheless, he had Taksin beheaded and ascended the throne himself as Rama I. That is the beginning of the Chakri dynasty
https://www.thailandblog.nl/geschiedenis/koning-taksin-een-fascinerende-figuur/
King Taksin is the actual founder of Thailand, and also made the country 1. And he was not beheaded at all, but retired in the financial interests of the country. Because the war against the Burmese was with permission, financial and military help from China. But these were Taksin's personal debts, not Siam's. So with the disappearance of King Taksin those debts also disappeared. King Taksin passed away at an old age in Nakhon Si Thammarat. He was married to the daughter of the last king of Nakhin Si Thammarat.
The place where he spent the last years of his life as a monk is a place of pilgrimage. It is also regularly visited by military units. You can also see a royal mantle there. A 2nd royal mantle is located in China. A lot of historical research has been done in China about King Taksin and the reconquest of Ayudhaya.
What is shoved under the carpet in school history is that Ayudhaya and also Siam was in fact a vassal state of China until the fall of the Chinese empire. That is why Taksin asked China's permission to reconquer Ayudhaya. There have been long secret negotiations about this
Interesting detail, Rama 5's favorite wife, the one who drowned on the way to Bang Pa In, was a granddaughter of King Taksin.
We're not going to agree on how King Taksin died, Henry. The Royal Chronicles all report that Taksin was executed, and those at the time of King Mongkut also say it was a beheading (BJTerwiel, Thailand's Political History, p. 78). Can you name me other sources?
Until Rama V, the king's treasury coincided with the state's treasury. And Taksin, whose father had emigrated from China, did indeed owe a lot to help from the Chinese side, ships, people and money.
Yes, Ayutthaya sometimes sent tribute to the imperial court in China, and so did the kingdom of Lanna and Laos. But a vassal state? That goes too far for me.