Every sanctioned Muay Thai match opens with the wai khru ram muay, performed by each boxer individually in the ring before the first bell, and the two part name describes its two part structure: the wai khru, a gesture of respect toward one's teachers, parents and guardians, still and reverent, and the ram muay, a slower stylised dance that follows, unique to each fighter's gym or lineage, often incorporating movements said to recall the fighter's teacher, region or a legendary boxer of the past.
Fighters wear two ritual items reserved for the occasion and removed before the bout proper begins: the mongkol, a sacred headband blessed by a teacher and placed on the fighter only for this ceremony, and the pra jiad, armbands sometimes containing a small piece of cloth from a parent or loved one, worn for protection through the fight to come. The music that accompanies the ceremony, played live at ringside on traditional Thai instruments including the pi, a reed oboe, and hand drums, continues into the early rounds of the fight itself at a tempo the musicians adjust to the pace of the action, a living connection between ceremony and combat found in few other combat sports anywhere.