Sea Gypsiesof Nagoo
Story by Phuket Insider, december 2001

Although Southeast Asia’s Sea Gypsies, or Na Goo as they call themselves, have been around the region for generations, very little is known about them. Even their origins are a matter for debate.

Partly, this is because their culture and history is known only through verbal traditions - the Na Goo never developed writing.The loss of culture is also the result of their absorption into mainstream Thai culture.

In this article, Sangkhae Leelanapaporn and Sudrak Phongpheng look at the dwindling culture and rapidly changing lifestyle of this small band of people in Phuket.

Photo Discription:
Na Goo village houses, home to families as large as ten people, are seldom more than basic tin huts on stilts.

Sea gypsies, Chao Lay in Thai, or Na Goo in their own language, are among the most easily identified residents of Phuket. Their sun-drenched lifestyle gives them distinctive dark skin and red-tinted hair, and many can be seen on Rawai Beach or on Koh Sireh walking barefoot, dressed comfortably in just a colorful T-shirt and a sarong.They are also the poorest group of inhabitants, many of them living on handouts, as well as the least well-educated, with few staying in school beyond the primary level.

In addition, because they have no written tradition, much of their culture is disappearing as they are increasingly absorbed into mainstream Thai society, albeit at the bottom end.
The exact origins of the Na Goo are not known; historians are divided into two schools of thought. One group believes the Na Goo derive from Indonesian or Malay origins, while the other believes that they came from Burma, before scattering all over Southeast Asia.

Both schools agree, however, that the Na Goo were the first settlers on Phuket, though just how long they have been here is not known.There are just three Na Goo communities in Phuket, the largest being in Rawai. The second village is on Laem Tukkae, on Koh Sireh, while the third is at the northern end of the island, comprising Baan Neua and Baan Laem La, in Tah Chat Chai. Phuket Provincial Health Office statistics for 1999, the most recent figures available, put Phuket’s total Na Goo population at just under 4,000.

The Rawai village is by far the biggest Na Goo community on the island, with about 1,700 people reported living there.This particular community identify themselves as the Dtee Bak, or “Lions of the Sea”. They are believed to have migrated from Malaysia more than 100 years ago, stopping first at islands in Phang Nga Bay, including the Phi Phi Islands, then moving north to Ranong, before finally settling on Phuket.

Somboon Damrongkasert, 49, a Dtee Bak, says that his grandmother once told him that, before he was born, the Dtee Bak had lived on Koh Hei and Koh Bon, before moving to Phuket.

They moved to Rawai, she told him, after Thais who wanted the land threatened them. At that time, the Dtee Bak were very afraid because three of them had recently died of fever and diarrhea, and the villagers were worried that spirits were angry with them.

The second-largest Na Goo community in Phuket is at Laem Tukkae, and has about 1,500 villagers. This group, too, is believed to have migrated from Malaysia, stopping in Satun and Krabi before settling in Phuket.

The third community, in the north, refer to themselves as Lee Dta or “Lions of the Land”. They are believed to have arrived in Phuket from Burma, via Koh Lanta.

Photo Discription: A society increasingly reliant on handouts: Na Goo collect free bags of rice during a Chinese temple festival.

Each Na Goo community is basically a single extended family, or clan. The Dtee Bak village in Rawai consists of about 300 families, each comprising up to 10 people living together in one corrugated-tin shack.

The houses, which are built close together, are raised off the ground and have an outside platform on which the women usually work, while the men work underneath.

Being people of the sea, sea-gypsy communities survive on fishing. The men go out to sea, typically for three or four days at a time, searching for good fishing locations off the islands around Phuket.

The women, while waiting for the men to return and sell their catch, pass the time tending to their homes and selling seashells that the men have brought back from previous forays.

The younger children spend much of their time playing, swimming and practicing casting nets from the shore. When the boys reach about 12 years of age, they will join their fathers on the boats. The girls stay at home, helping their mothers.

The Na Goo language is based on Malay, fragmented into many regional dialects. Many words are unique to the language, which is spoken very quickly and in accents different from those used in either Thai or Malay.

The simple Na Goo way of life has changed little over the centuries. But while sea gypsy villages all share similar social and cultural traditions, they also, these days, share another aspect of life: change.

With increasing numbers of younger sea gypsies gaining formal education and interacting more with Thais, the number of Na Goo speaking Thai has boomed. While this broadens the young people’s education, it also means that the Na Goo are facing the prospect of losing their native tongue.

Somboon says, “Na Goo don’t speak their own language anymore. Their lifestyle has changed and many now speak only southern Thai.

“We’ve had to communicate and interact with people outside our village. Also, the children go to school and have to speak with other people. That’s why we started to speak southern Thai.”

Even though most Na Goo children finish only primary school, the effect of these few years of Thai-language education is marked. Only in the village on Koh Sireh can the Na Goo be heard speaking their own language.

This is perhaps because the elders of the Koh Sireh village seem intent on maintaining their heritage, including their distinctive Rong Ngeng dance.

A group of village dancers, the Roo Ngik (known to Thais as the Pornsawan Group), which is led by 70-year-old Mae Jiw, have become popular entertainers, performing as far north as Lampang as well as in Malaysia and Burma. In 1992, Mae Jiw was named a National Artist, receiving her award from HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The Rong Ngeng is reserved for special occasions such as the Ba Jak ceremony, or “Setting Adrift of Boats”. This ceremony is performed on the night of the full moon of the sixth and eleventh lunar months.

The boats – as large as fishing boats and made of wood, are decorated with orchids and laden with hanks of hair, nail clippings, and wooden effigies of those taking part in the ceremony. They are believed to carry bad luck with them as they drift out to sea.

The Na Goo, dressed in their finest clothing, dance the Rong Ngeng around the boats before setting them adrift.

Mae Jiw explains, “Each sea-gypsy village dances the Rong Ngeng in a similar style, though not the same. Most clans have translated their songs into Thai, but our Rong Ngeng is original because we dance to songs sung in our own language.

“I prefer to speak to Na Goo people in Na Goo language, not in Thai. If we don’t speak our language any more, it will disappear. I’ve never spoken to another Na Goo person in Thai and I won’t.”

Mae Jiw teaches the women in her village the Rong Ngeng gestures, which she started learning from her parents when she was eight years old. “Na Goo songs are ancient,” she says. “We pass them down from generation to generation verbally.

“At the moment, I am teaching the dance to the girls in my village, but not many of them are very keen. They seem to be more interested in TV or radio. Many teenagers in the village prefer to listen to traditional Indian music or to Thai country music.”

Another tradition under threat is Na Goo wedding customs. Mae Jiw explains, “It is traditional for the groom to come to the bride’s house three times before they are married. On the first visit, the groom asks her parents for permission to marry their daughter, which they always refuse.

“On the second visit, the groom will be granted permission. The third visit is the engagement ceremony, to which he should bring a pa tung [sarong], a shirt and, most importantly, a silver ring for the bride-to-be,” Mae Jiw says. “He should also bring the makings for chewing betel nut, or at least proo leaves [in which the makings are wrapped before chewing]. The wedding ceremony will be held later.”

Photo Discription:
Fading traditions: Mae Jiw (center, in pale blue blouse) says that few youngsters are interested in learning the traditional Rong Ngeng dance of her people.

But, she snorts, “Nowadays most Na Goo get engaged in the morning and have the wedding in the afternoon. The ceremony is usually a basic affair with food for guests and music being provided by playing cassette tapes.”

Agreeing that traditional Na Goo weddings are becoming more rare, Somboon points out, “Na Goo used to marry other Na Goo from the village when they were 15 to 16 years old. But now, many Na Goo marry Thais.”Possibly the biggest revolution in Na Goo culture has been the adoption of Buddhism. Mae Jiw says, “Years ago, the Na Goo didn’t have any [organized] religion. But now times have changed and most Na Goo are Buddhists.”

She explains that, in the old days, when a Na Goo died, villagers would bury the body that day or keep the body at home for no more than two days. But these days, the body is taken to a wat for Buddhist funeral rites before being buried, and some of the richer families invite monks to come and bless the family home.This switch to Buddhism has resulted in the abandonment of the traditional belief in powerful spirits. “When someone falls ill,” says Mae Jiw, “our traditional beliefs say that this is because our forefathers are angry at us, or because of ghosts.

“Two days ago, I was very sick. I don’t know why. I couldn’t stand up and I ached all over. I realized that my great-grandparents were very angry with me, though I didn’t know why.

“I lit a yah wa (a homemade medicinal joss stick) and before it burned out I apologized to my great-grandfather for whatever I’d done to anger him and asked him to forgive me. By the next morning, I was feeling better and my sickness was gone,” she says.

But the younger-generation Na Goo, she explains, have forsaken this approach, opting for treatment with Western medicine.However, while traditional Na Goo customs are being forgotten, others are taking their place. One adopted custom is for Na Goo to visit Thai or Chinese temples during those merit-making ceremonies where food is given to the poor, such as Dern Sib or Teh Krajard.

Somboon explains that local lore says that this custom started many years ago when a Thai couple were going to a wat on a monk’s day. The couple saw an elderly Na Goo woman sitting alone in front of her home, and asked her if she wanted to go with them.The old lady agreed but had no temple offerings to take with her. On arriving at the wat, she did not know how to join in the ceremony, and had no offerings in any case, so she sat alone in the temple grounds.

Thais coming to the wat took pity on her and gave her food and money. Since that day, says Somboon, Na Goo go to the neighboring wat on monk’s days to get free food.

“Any Na Goo who has ever gone to a wat to get food can’t stop going back. Both young and old keep rushing off to a wat or a foundation that’s celebrating some ceremony by donating rice to the poor,” laughs Somboon.

“I could never do something like that because I’d be embarrassed. I’ll always be a fisherman. Unlike some, who work in the fish factory, I don’t know any other line of work,” he adds.

Somboon’s outlook may represent more than just his own future. With the Na Goo (whom the government officially calls Chao Thai Mai, or New Thai people) having a limited role in Phuket’s economy, it is difficult to see them benefiting from the island’s boom.

Meanwhile, disabled Na Goo and sea gypsy children, speaking the few words of English they know, continue to beg for money from tourists who visit or who take their photo.
And the village elders spend the last of their days sitting outside their houses, waving to each passing tourist, and asking for money for food because they are too old to work.