The Devout Fight - Ceremonial Funeral Fights by Fighters for Those In the Sport

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

As Thailand's Muay Thai travels toward pure commerce and its consumption, it should be remembered that the Thai fight for the dead, before the dead...to the honor of the dead. In funeral rites for fallen fighters and figures of the sport it is customary, in these days, to perform a traditional fighting wai kru and to put on a theatrical display, a show fight (though even further back, and at times, it can be a real fight a reality marked often marked by wagers taken). There is a celebration of the art, the sport and mostly of the community of people within it, all present in the memory of the past nakmuay or figure of the sport, who is no longer with us, and certainly a kind of joy when it comes to the spectacle of the sparing fight itself. When people argue that Muay Thai is just a sport, they do not realize that Thais in the sport have the custom of putting on show fights for the dead who have left. It is far, far more than a sport. It is the weaving of meaningful violence, transformed into spirit and its dignified glory. Each and every fight, and each and every ceremonial spar and wai kru.

Below three videos of ceremonial fights. The second one is part of a longer short film on the passing of the legend Sirimongkol.

 

Dieselnoi and Pudpadnoi for Namkabuan

 

Sagat and Pudpadnoi for Sirimongkol

 

Yodkhunpon and Chatkating for the head of the Sittraipom Gym's passing

 

Samart and Weerapol (not sure which passing)

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Never sure about provenance, but below is a photograph marked as a Funeral Fight for Marupongsiripat (1898). This custom reaches back well over 100 years, and to Thai royalty. The establishment of the 3 Schools of Muay Boran (just before the decade when Muay Thai would be modernized on the model of British Boxing) also occurred through funeral matches.

 

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Photos from the more solemn moments of Wai Kru at the legend Namkabuan's funeral ceremony, two of the greatest who fought Dieselnoi and Pudpadnoi. The spar itself can mix the solemn, the spectacle of respect and conflict, and even humor, but the weight of the moment is always there, with everyone. In this way all of Life is embodied in the display of the art and sport.