Locals believe that their ancestors immigrated from Ayutthaya after its fall in 1767. In 1782, Phyra Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I) established what is today's Bangkok. The refugees settled there, but the date of their migration is unclear. They were known for creating monk's alms bowls, which required handcrafting and manual labor. This tradition has lasted to the modern day. Locals have established the Ban Bat Community, a group that preserves the monk's alms bowl tradition and sells alms bowls to visitors as souvenirs.[3][4]
Additionally, in 1883, during the King Chulalongkorn (Rama V)'s reign, it was recorded that the community in Ban Bat had a variety of occupations, one of which was the weaving of O (โอ, pronounced[ʔoː]), a type of container similar to a large bowl or cup, which was made of both lacquerware and woven materials.[5]
Another old community, Ban Dokmai, is nearby. It has a tradition of making fireworks ("firework" in Thai called dokmai fai (Thai: ดอกไม้ไฟ; RTGS: dok mai fai; literally 'flame flower'). Similar to the alms bowls of Ban Bat, this tradition may be lost.[3]
Moreover, the area around Wat Saket is also a large source of the shops that line a comprehensive range of wood products and handicraft. Currently, some of them have moved to settle in Bang Pho, Bang Sue District.[8]
References
^Administrative Strategy Division, Strategy and Evaluation Department, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (2021). สถิติกรุงเทพมหานครประจำปี 2563 [Bangkok Statistics 2020] (PDF) (in Thai). Retrieved 27 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
