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| Wat Po Temple grounds |
The place is crowded. No, it’s jam-packed. People
of all ages everywhere with no separation between sexes. There is no space to
move. When I walk, I am pushing one person into another, so that they squeeze their space to
let me pass. Its the Wat Pa Pao temple, Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
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| An Akha elder having a smoke! |
The temple complex is large: nearly 3/4 size of Oval maidan, Mumbai. In
it, there is the main temple plus shrines and dormitories for monks. The
ceremony conducted in the main hall in the presence of many senior monks has
musical accompaniment and announcements blaring forth from loudspeakers. The
cacophony of sound from the crowd and the ambience on this auspicious occasion
is awesome.
Each family
sits in a circular group. Visible groups. Each family to itself. They sit with
the young boy as the centre of attraction in each group. He is their idol; he
is the hero of the day. After all, in two days time, at the end of this
ceremony, he will go away from their lives for the next ten years atleast. So,
they sit; they share food, they talk, some consume alcohol surreptitiously as
after all we are in a temple, whereas others stroll around the complex looking
at the food and clothes stalls. There is even a TV seller here! There is an air
of festivity and cheerfulness.. each family wants to make it a grand affair by
which to remember their son.
There are seven major hill tribes in the Chiang Mai
area: the Meo, Lisu, Lahu, Yao Myanmar
and taken refuge in Thailand Thailand ,
and over four million in Myanmar
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| Novice monks at work |
Poi Sang Long is unlike any other ceremony of its type in the country. Young boys
aged between 7 to 14 are ordained as novices to learn Buddhist doctrine –
popular belief is that they will gain merit for their parents. Actually, it is
a unique Thai interpretation, which is a win-win situation for parents, the
children and Buddhism. These children are from very poor families, mostly farming families, who cannot afford
education and the children are destined for the family farming tradition. This
is their way out – the child is around 6 to 7 years of age when he is given to
Buddha. He will be a novitiate with the monks till 16 years of age. Then, he
can continue to be a monk or he can return to normal life. So, the child escapes into a life
where he receives a good education,
given food and boarding all free in return for service to Buddhism. The parents
don’t have the burden of bearing these costs. In turn, Buddhism gains young
children as prospect monks for the future but definitely novices who can learn
the religion and in return give service to the monks and the temple by
performing menial tasks on the premises.
The origin of this festival lies in Buddhist
tradition.... it is believed that Prince Rahula, Buddha’s own son, gave up the
worldly life to follow his father’s footsteps.
Prince Rahula became the youngest ordained monk and the first novice in
Buddhism. Subsequently, it became a tradition that young boys should ordain to
learn the teachings of Buddha. Due to the reverence given to Buddhism, the
people believe that the celebrations should be as grand as possible.
In true Thai architectural design style, the temple precinct has a long hall
under a multi-tier red tiled roof. The hall on the first floor has steps
leading to it from both ends so that the vast crowd can enter easily. In the
lower courtyard, there are big blue and white stripes tents providing shade to
the families. Actually under this outer cover, there is a red inner layer with
bright orange, yellow, red and green fabric buntings running around the
border.
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| Flower money! |
The colours in the room hit your eye as Karen women
dress very attractively and in a distinctive style. Unmarried girls wear loose
white V-necked shifts, decorated with Job’s Tear seeds at the seams. Married
women wear blouses and skirts in bold colours, predominantly red or blue. Men
wear blue baggy trousers, with typically red-striped shirts, a simplified
version of the women’s blouses. The middle aged and elderly men wear sombre
shirts with a red cummerbund or headscarf.
Each ethnic group has a unique range
of styles and colours particular to it. Considerable time, pride and
imagination are exercised in the design & production of clothes and
jewellery as these are an expression of status, pride and art. Many
women still wear traditional costume, but the men and children are adopting
western shorts, jeans and T-shirts for everyday wear.
The festivities last for three days. The Mayor
officially opens the ceremony with a procession from Tha Pae West Gate to the
Wat Pa Pao. This is essentially to create the hype for tourists and locals as
well as to get the families together. On the first day, the boys’ heads are
shaved. The tonsure ceremony is serious
business, as after this, the initiate cannot stand on the ground. He has to be
carried by somebody until the final ceremony on the 3rd day. Whether
it is for general walking around or going to the bathroom, he will be carried
or has to stand on a chair. His feet must
never touch the ground. Just imagine that for three full days and nights, where ever he goes, his feet cannot touch the ground. It is an awesome responsibility on the family.
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| Come on, I Am NOT that heavy! |
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| Tonsured and pre-bath |
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| Luk Kaew or Jewel Son |
The boys are then bathed and anointed with special
holy water and dressed up elegantly and colourfully.. The piece de resistance
is the facial make up which takes a lot of time as its complicated, using rouge,
blush-ons, small bindies and decorative paint work. The faces are superbly
made-up to resemble girls rather than young boys. The shaved head is covered
with a red headband. The clothes consist of a red, pink or yellowish green robe
with a lot of shiny embroidery. Looks rich even if it is not heavy expensive
fabric.
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| Family Group for the Sang Long - a very auspicious occasion |
On his head, the child wears a headdress with plastic flowers in white and pink. There is a desire that each child should outshine the other in dress and make-up. Bead necklaces and a waistband make up the rest of the glittering gear. Often the child falls asleep due to sheer exhaustion, as after all he is only around seven years old. By now, the boys are known as Sang Long or Luk Kaew or Jewel Sons. Its easy to understand why as the faces are really bejewelled.
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| The Long Drum |
On the second day, a procession is held displaying the offerings for the monks. Around each family area, there are paper flowers full of money trees. Gifts in brightly coloured paper are wrapped and kept on the side. These are for the monks as a donation to be given by each proud family.
At around 4.00 pm, to the sound of a long drum
and a seven piece cymbal set, the dressed up children, each on the shoulder of
an adult, are called to the central lower courtyard. The adults are dancing in
a two-step style with the child swaying away. In addition, there is a large
paper umbrella, with golden yellow designs on it, being carried by a family
member so that the child’s head is shaded from the hot sun. The noise is simply
unbelievable. The monks address them through the sound system, which competes
with the drums, which in turn competes with the general conversation of
the vast crowd. The monks read out the offerings and then the procession winds
it way around the temple three times.
As the procession goes round the temple, the crowd throws rice on the group as an auspicious sign.
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| The final round around the temple |
After the third round, the place
suddenly becomes quiet and the crowd fades away with the child and his family
staying in their area in the tent.
On the third day, there is an air of sombreness.
This is the final day. The child now wears the yellow / orange single piece
uniform of a novice monk. He has a black bead necklace around his neck. With
his tonsured head, he looks very serious and no longer like the child of the
day before when he entered the temple grounds.
The novices’ play enthusiastically with the gifts they have received
from family members: some have battery-powered cars, others with hand held
computer games. Others just run around chasing each other. The procession once again proceeds through
the town and the boys are taken to the temple for the formal ordination ceremony. By the time it's evening, there is a general
air of clearing up. Within the space of two hours, the families have totally
cleaned up the garbage lying around and the decorations used for the
ceremony.
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| Novice monks ready to leave |
Thus comes an end once again to the annual ceremony
of gifting one’s child in the service of the Lord Buddha. In this deeply
religious country, it is a continuing act of faith from generation to
generation. It is a wonderful way to keep the religion alive when other
religions the world over face great difficulty in collecting a congregation. It
is a sight worth seeing as one never knows how long such traditions will
continue.
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