Rice Barn Lanna people called a rice barn “Long Khao”. There was a barn in every house in agri-cultural communities, both in rural towns and cities, lowlands and highlands, peasants’ and the noblemen’s houses. In fact a rice barn is also normally found outside the Lanna Kingdom, such as in other parts of Thailand, neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Usually, Long Khao was built in the front of the house for convenient transportation. Its size depended on the size of land and economic status of the owner. Some barns were not enclosed by panels, but had a big cylindrical container called “Sa-wien”. Sa-wien is made of 1x1.5 metre woven bamboos coated with cattle droppings mixed with soil and water. The bottom of Sa-wien was woven loosely. Traditional Lanna Long Khao was usually a stilt building. There were two styles of buildings and roofs. The first one was a gable-roof building with panels on the inside of the column lines. The other, very unique and existing only in the Lanna region, had an open or closed balcony around the building, extended from the column lines with a gable roof covering all four sides. Lanna Long Khao’s columns were arranged in two lines, with 1-5 bays. Often, the ends were circular and large while the capitals leaned toward each other and extended to support the gable roof. Also, both ends of floor beams (Waeng) jutted out. It was this that strengthened the structure. Consisting of eaves or free-standing columns that supported the ends of eaves, the gable roof could be decorated with Kalae. The roofs were covered with thatch made from dry teak leaves or blade grass, Din Khor tiles, or other types of tiles in later periods. The space under Lanna Long Khao was high, so it was airy and suitable for preventing humidity and termites. In ancient times, this could house large animals like elephants as well. The space could be used for parking carts and the columns could be used to chain cattle. The building was inside the column lines and divided into two rooms. The large room was the main room called “Long Khao Luang” for storing paddy for selling and consuming. Dates for moving the paddy in and out of this room were considered auspicious. However, some paddy was stored separately in another small room called “Long Khao Moh” or “Long Phrang”, for emergency use without having to wait until auspicious days. The panels were boarded up on every side or covered with battens on the upper, and there was only one entrance in the front. There were two ways to build this entrance. One was to gouge the frame to put pieces of board in. Numbers were written on each board to measure the amount 116
of paddy in the room.The other way was putting smooth materials in, such as a board, woven bamboo, or, as is done in current times, an iron sheet. In the front of this entrance, wooden pad called “Pakkhatuen Pheekin” was hanged. It was a calendar stating the auspicious and inauspicious days. It was believed that on inauspicious days, ghosts would come to eat the paddy. On auspicious days, however, there would be no ghosts. Around the two paddy rooms, the floor was extended to the outside of the column line to make balcony on both sides. The balcony were used for keeping harvesting equipment and quality seeds for the next season. The balcony could be open or blocked by boards. The enclosure could be stifling or open with bars or fretworks. It could be decorated freely without a strict pattern. The balcony with eaves could prevent the rain from getting into the paddy rooms. Moreover, the lack of permanent stairs helped prevent thieves. One had to bring a bamboo ladder or “Guen” to lean temporarily on the building to climb up the barn. Nowadays, though the necessity of Long Khao has become less than before, there are still some left in agricultural villages in the countryside, both in the lowlands and the highlands. In cities, there are only the ones preserved in some areas or museums. Moreover, many people buy old Long Khao from villagers to modify or construct Long Khao-like buildings for commercial uses, such as guesthouses, resort hotels, or restaurants.