Thailand National Symbols

In 2001, a Scottish national made the nearly-fatal mistake of urinating on a picture of the king, an action that under Thai law, carries the death penalty. He got lucky and was only deported after substantial jail time, but his ordeal nevertheless stands testament to the fact that Thais hold their royal family—especially the king—in high reverence and view the monarchy as the embodiment of Thai values. Do not speak disparagingly of the Monarchy, and avoid dropping, defacing, or stepping on currency or stamps, which carry the king’s portrait. When near a portrait of King Bhumibol or any past Thai king, never raise your head above the head in the portrait. Be especially careful in restaurants and public buses, which are often decorated with royal portraits. In short, don’t mess with the man whose name means “Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power.”

The Elephant

Elephants are the good luck charms of Thailand, and are depicted on the national currency and the national flag. In fact, Thailand is geographically shaped like an elephant’s head and trunk. White elephants were historically given to the King as a mark of respect and to ensure the success of his reign, and they have come to symbolize not only the monarchy but also national peace and prosperity. This stems from the story that in the night before giving birth to the Buddha, his mother had a dream in which a white elephant came bearing a lotus flower, the symbol of purity and knowledge. Today, March 13 has been set aside as Elephant Day in the hope of raising Thais’ awareness about Thailand’s declining elephant population.

The Flag

Historians believe that the Thai national flag was raised for the first time in 1608, when the country dispatched its first Thai embassy to the Netherlands. In 1816, Singapore declared that Siamese ships needed a more distinctive flag for trading purposes. King Rama II added a white elephant, because of its connotations of sacred royalty, to the make-shift red flag. Nearly a hundred years later, King Rama IV redesigned the flag, choosing five horizontal stripes in white and red. Being both horizontally and vertically symmetrical, the flag could never be flown upside down. The colors of this Trairong (tricolor) flag are said to represent different aspects of Thailand: red for the nation, white for Buddhism, and blue for the monarchy. The official modern flag, which is raised and lowered in daily ceremonies, was declared as such on September 28, 1917.