Culture and Society
The Thais can be broken down into various regional groups with their own regional varieties of Thai. These groups include Central Thai (also the standard variety of the language), the Isan (more closely related to the Standard Lao of Laos than to Standard Thai), Lanna Thai and Southern Thai. Modern Central Thai has become more dominant due to official government policy, which was designed to assimilate and unify the disparate Thai in spite of ethnolinguistic and cultural ties between the northeastern Thai people and the people from Laos for example.
The modern Thai are predominantly Theravada Buddhist and strongly identify their ethnic identity with their religious practices that include aspects of ancestor worship, among other beliefs of the ancient folklore of Thailand. Indigenous arts include muay Thai (kick boxing), Thai dance, makruk (Thai Chess), and nang yai (shadow play).
Read more about this topic: Thai People
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