Abstract
In this paper, I deal with the group named “the elderly” in the guardian spirit ritual in the Tai-Lue villages in Nan province, Northern Thailand. These groups appeared after the decline of the traditional role of the elderly in the ritual, and are connected with the recent social situation including the national policies towards local cultures and the elderly.
Village elderly carry out newly invented performances in the ritual as a new culture of the elderly, not transmitted from their ancestors. One can say that the role of the elderly in the ritual has changed from that of “Khon Thao Khon Kae” (an older person who has traditional knowledge) to that of “Phu Sung Ayu” (a person over 60 years of age, who can receive welfare services).
However these newly invented activities of the elderly in the ritual are voluntarily initiated by them. They have tried to find their own world of activities even in the stream of “welfarization.” They are given a new arena of self-representation and activities, i. e. performing as the Tai-Lue “elderly.” So they are in a sense defined by the state, but they adapt those definitions for their own purposes.
