The day it marks
17 March is National Muay Thai Day, and it belongs to Nai Khanom Tom, an Ayutthaya fighter taken to Burma after the city fell. The account handed down has him beating one Burmese fighter after another in front of the court that held him, and being freed for it.
Whatever the history behind the story, the day is why the ceremony is held here rather than in Bangkok. Ayutthaya is the fighter's city.
Wai kru ram muay
Before a bout a fighter seals the ring, kneels, bows three times and then dances. The wai kru is thanks to the teacher; the ram muay that follows is the fighter's own, and no two camps do it the same way. It is the part of the sport that is unambiguously a rite rather than a contest.
At the March ceremony hundreds perform it together, in the open, on the brick, which turns something usually seen in a ring under strip lights into a mass ritual against a ruin.
Being there
The ceremony is open to watch and the fighters are used to cameras, but it is a rite and not a show: stay off the performance ground and keep your feet away from anyone kneeling. Heads high, feet low, as everywhere in a Thai temple.
March is dry and hot, and the ground is unshaded brick by mid-morning. Come early, and bring water.
