Muay Thai Traditions

THE RAM MUAY AND THE WAI KRU

In America only the hard core ones dance. The Thai Boxing dance, or the Ram Muay, is the ultimate display of grace, class and spiritualism in the art of Muay Thai. To Thais no Muay Thai camp is true if each fighter cannot perform the Ram Muay and perform it well. The dance movements during this ritual serves to pay homage to the love and care given to them by their fathers, mothers, teachers and all those they respect. More importantly during the dance, the boxer seeks the blessing of all good energy that surrounds him.

In addition to the Ram Muay, the Wai Kru (where the fighter kneels in the center) and the sealing of the ring (where the fighter walks around the ring to seal all good luck and keep out bad influences) are performed to display further respect, spiritualism and strength.

Traditionally the Ram Muay was indicative of each Muay Thai camp's particular style. It also served to show the origin of the boxer and which camp he belonged to. This effectively prevented the fixing of fights and other forms of corruption. Thus, if a fighter does not perform the Ram Muay, we ask does he even come from a Muay Thai camp?

On the practical side, Thais place their bets after the performance of the Ram Muay. To them, the spirit and class of the fighter manifest themselves through the performance of this ritual. Thus, most can tell who will win by the end of the dance.

So yes, Thai Boxers dance. Unfortunately in America, they dance less and less due to the influence of ignorance and the lack of respect for the true spirit of Muay Thai. However, the persistence of schools like Team USA will hopefully spread the knowledge and tradition of Muay Thai again.