Even though life has gotten busy and I haven't been able to get involved with the National Museum Volunteers much lately, I'm still on the email list.
When I saw the topic of this month's lecture, I knew that I had to go, and since the event was held on a Thursday, my wife was able to join me.
The small-group lecture, held at the National Museum's auditorium, was all about Siamese cats and their importance in Thai culture! As cat lovers and the parents of a Siamese cat ourselves, Pinky and I were super excited to attend and learn more.
We settled in at a desk near the front of the lecture hall, enjoying the complementary coffee, tea, and cookies (cat-shaped, of course) which were provided for attendees.
The lecture began with an introduction of the "Maew Boran", or Five Ancient Cats of Siam, recognized by the Thai government as native cats and an important part of the cultural heritage of the country.
In 2025, these cats were officially made national symbols of Thailand, and I will be introducing each one in this blog post using these adorable cookies which were included with our lecture swag.
Wichienmaat (Siamese Cat)
The most famous of the "Five Ancient Cats" is the Wichienmaat, which literally means "Diamond Gold". The Wichienmaat is also called the Thai cat or Old-Style Siamese and is what most people would recognize as the iconic Siamese cat.
In the 1980s, the Thai cat was recognized as a separate breed from their more modern cousins, the Siamese. Basically, the Wichienmaat is an older "natural breed" with a rounder face and softer features than the highly selectively bred Siamese with their angular faces and sharp points. I personally think the Wichienmaat is cuter, but I may be biased since that's the kind of cat that I have. From here on out, though, I'm just going to be referring to both types as Siamese.
Wicheinmaat (Thai) - left
Modern Siamese - right
Siamese cats are renowned for their distinctive pale fur and darker points on their paws, face, ears, and tail, and for their brilliant sapphire blue eyes (unless they are blind, like my cat!).
Siamese are actually known as "temperature sensitive albinos", and their pattern is caused by a gene affecting melanin production, meaning cooler parts of the body at their extremities develop more pigment and appear darker, while the warmer core stays pale. Siamese kittens are born completely white and gradually develop their darker points as they grow.
Siamese are actually known as "temperature sensitive albinos", and their pattern is caused by a gene affecting melanin production, meaning cooler parts of the body at their extremities develop more pigment and appear darker, while the warmer core stays pale. Siamese kittens are born completely white and gradually develop their darker points as they grow.
The Siamese has long been favored at the royal court and has appeared in photographs since at least the time of King Rama IV as a feature in the royal coronation. One part of the ceremony is the Royal Housewarming, in which the king moves into the palace. He is accompanied by a procession of items symbolizing home and comfort. Cats, as notorious homebodies, are emblematic within the context of the ceremony of domestic comfort.
Korat (Si-Sawaad)
The Korat cat, named for the area it originated in ("Korat" is the nickname and common name of Nakhon Ratchasima, the biggest city in northeastern Thailand). The Korat cat is known traditionally as a good luck cat and is renowned for blue-grey fur and vivid green eyes.
The procession would take place when the period of drought became concerning to the villagers who relied on rain the heavily agricultural pre-industrial Siam. Villagers began planting their fields after the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in early May, but when the rains didn't come in time, that was when it was decided to perform the Hae Nang Maew.
A Korat cat, whose coloring was said to look like that of a stormy sky, was placed in a bamboo cage and paraded around town to the sounds of drums, gongs, cymbals, and the singing of rain-based folksongs. All the while, the poor cat was splashed with water by the people as the procession passed by, and its screams of annoyance were said to call the attention of the gods and spirits.
Nowadays, live cats are thankfully no longer used, and the ceremony is performed with a clay or wooden cat instead, and some places even use a Hello Kitty or Doraemon figure!
Konja
The Konja cat is jet black with bright yellow eyes. To be considered a pure Konja, it cannot have even a single white hair in its coat.
While some Western folklore paints black cats as bringers of bad luck, it is the complete opposite in Thailand. The Konja in particular is considered to be very auspicious and is said to bring good luck and fortune to their owners.
Good luck cats, particularly the Konja, are even used in wedding rituals or placed in cradles of babies in certain parts of the country to bless the newlyweds or newborns.
Khao Manee
One of the rarest and most stunning of the ancient cats is the Khao Manee, or "White Diamond". As you might expect from its name, its fur is completely white without any other markings.
But not just any white cat can be a Khao Manee. What makes this breed so special is its heterochromia; each one always has one Siamese-like sapphire blue eye and one gold eye.
The Khao Manee is one of the rarest cat breeds in the world, and a pedigreed kitten can go for up to $11,000 USD! The Khao Manee came to the West for the first time in 1999, relatively recently, however they have long been associated with royalty and were traditionally renowned as bringers of good fortune and in possession of mystical healing powers.
Suphalak
Commonly known as "thong daeng", or "red-gold", this copper-colored cat is a symbol of wealth, good fortune, and prestige.
When Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the invading Burmese army destroyed the city and looted its treasures. According to a Thai legend, King Hsinbyushin of Burma discovered a Tamra Maew, or "cat treatise" poem calling the Suphalak cat "as rare as gold" and saying that anyone who owns one will become wealthy.
The tale goes that the king ordered his soldiers to round up and capture as many Suphalak cats as they could find to take back to Burma along with other looted treasures. The story is often told as a humorous explanation as to why Suphalak are so rare, but interestingly, the cat has been recognized as the ancestor of the Burmese cat, so who knows how true the legend may be!
After the fascinating lecture, we had the chance to make our own cat painting to take home with us! An art professor and his assistant gave each of us the option of which of the five cats we'd like to paint. Pinky and I decided to paint different cats so that we would have two new pieces of art to hang on our walls. I decided to paint a Siamese, and she decided to paint a Suphalak.
Once we’d divided into groups and settled in with others painting the same cat, each participant received a canvas dusted with faint red powder, transferred through a perforated stencil of a temple mural.
Each of the templates is taken from a real temple mural from across Thailand depicting one of the five ancient cats. I felt a bit overwhelmed (well, maybe more than a bit) when I looked down at the canvas in front of me. The red pigment was easily smudged and completely disappeared when painted over by the thick paint. This was going to be difficult, especially keeping the paint within the lines without losing any of the detail.
In the end, I decided to work in layers. The powder-based paint dried very quickly, so after covering the solid color of my cat's body, I was able to reapply the lines via the stencil and red powder and continue working on the details.
It was a blast! Of course, everyone who participated in the workshop was a cat fan, and we enjoyed chatting about cats and the events of the National Museum Volunteers as we painted. I sat with my British friend Tracy who I actually just met recently on the trip to Wat Bang Phra. The expat community, especially those who are more interested in temples and museums than in bars and partying, is a fun, small, closeknit group, and it's easy to make friends with people from all around the world.
And Cricket, as you can imagine, is very proud to have a painting of one of his ancestors.
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| Wichienmaat by Michael |
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| Suphalak by Pinky |
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