Traditions

Like other universities, students are separated into many faculties. However, it can be observed that many students in Chulalongkorn University socialize with many people from other faculties despite being divided into many faculties. One of the reasons is that there are many traditions that are shared among all Chulalongkorn Students.

One of the very first traditions that the freshman will have is Baan Rub Nong. Baan Rub Nong is a tradition that gives all freshmen a chance to socialize with other freshmen and sophomores from other faculties by doing activities that the sophomores and juniors planned. These activities involve playing games, dancing, singing, freshy night concert and more activities based on the theme of the Baan. There are 36 Baans in total for the freshmen to choose. Each Baan has a different size of capacity of members, making them have different feelings and experiences. Baans with bigger size have better variations in people due to their large size, giving the members an opportunity to get to know people from other faculties. On the other hand, Baans with smaller size give an easier opportunity to make a deeper bond with other members due to their size. Therefore, freshmen should choose the house according to their preferred social interactions style. Another factor that the freshmen should consider is each Baans’ specialties. For example, Baan Rang and Baan Yim are known for their cute girls.

Another tradition for the freshman is the Oath of Allegiance Ceremony. It is a ritual that has been passed through each generation of Chulalongkorn University. The ceremony involves freshmen from each faculty to pay respect to King Rama I and King Rama VI Statues in front of the auditorium and make an oath that he/she will use the knowledge gained from the university to contribute to the country. Since the university acknowledges that there are many people with different religions and political points of view. This activity is not required to be done by every freshmen nor does prevent people with different beliefs from attending.

Another one of the most famous traditions is the Chula-Thammasat Traditional Football Match, or commonly known as CU-TU Ball. As its name implies, CU-TU Ball is a football match between members of Chulalongkorn University and Thammasat University, allowing members of both universities to share their cultures. It is held every year, usually in January at the Suphachalasai Stadium in Bangkok. Aside from the football match, the uniqueness of the CU-TU Ball is the politics-mocking sequence expressed in both verbal and nonverbal means by both sides of the audience via the card stunts and the parade. However, due to the fact that most of the sequences are critiques on the current government and displayed in a low-context manner, many people with the opposing political points of view will despise the said political sequences.