| Vol.
24 No. 23 |
ELEPHANT-BACK
ORDINATION |
The
most spectacular Buddhist ordination of
Thailand |
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In Thailand, Buddhist ordination ceremonies
are commonly seen because most people are Buddhists.
And every Thai male aged 20 and up from a Buddhist family
is expected to be ordained as a monk for a period of
time sooner or later. The Thais believe that being ordained
as a Buddhist monk is a great way to gain merit for
oneself and one's parents. However, different regions
feature different ordination ceremonies.
A grand ordination ceremony is that of Thai Puan minority
at Ban Hat Siao in Sukhothai Province (427 km north
of Bangkok). What makes it so special is that all the
monks-to-be or the novices-to-be ride on elephant-backs
to join in a procession.
Part of the colourful procession showing
local women traditionally costumed.
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Thai Puan of Ban Hat Siao Village
The Thai Puan group living in Hat Siao Village, Sri
Satchanalai County, Sukhothai Province is one of Thai
Puan communities scattered in 23 provinces of Thailand.
The Thai Puan are the descendants of the Lao Puan people
who migrated to Thailand in five waves, each joined
by hundreds of them, including prisoners of war, from
1778 to 1834. They moved from Puan Town, Chiang Khwang
Province, Laos by passing Nan, Phrae and Uttaradit provinces
of Thailand and to Si Satchanalai Town. They finally
settled down in the area of Ban Hat Siao in the Yom
River Basin.
The delicate patterns of
Phasin Tinchok of Ban Hat Siao.
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Way of Life
In olden days, the Thai Puan at Ban Hat Siao earned
a living by doing agricultural work. Most of them grew
rice and raised livestock. The Ban Hat Siao community
has its own spoken language -- the Puan Language --
whose accent is similar to that of Laos'. Another way
of life worth mentioning is the weaving of the famous
Phasin Tinchok* of Ban Hat Siao.
In former times, Phasin Tinchok were worn only
by the unmarried women. The married ones wore plain
Phasin without "Tinchok".
However, at present all women commonly wear Phasin
Tinchok. What's more, the cloths, with their amazing
delicate patterns, are applied to modern tailoring.
*Phasin is a kind of loincloth for women. Tinchok
is the beautiful woven part used to decorate the edge
of Phasin. Phasin Tinchok thus means a loincloth with
fine patterns at the edge.
Elephants are beautifully
decorated before joining the procession.
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Traditions
The Hat Siao people's life has been involved with
Buddhism and superstition. They used to have twelve
religious traditions for twelve months of the year.
Nowadays, the Thai Puan practice only some traditions
due to a radical change in their ways of life and the
economy. Fewer people grow rice because more and more
villagers receive education at a higher level and choose
to work as civil servants or traders instead of farmers.
As a result, folk traditions and festivals automatically
lose their importance.
The Thai Puan traditions that have survived the
change are 1) Ordination on Elephant Back 2) Songkran
Festival 3) Rocket Festival. The others are traditions
related to important Buddhist days.
Ordination on Elephant Back
The annual Ordination on Elephant Back is the grandest
tradition of Ban Hat Siao. The concept derived from
the Vessandon Jataka* narrating that Phra Vessandon
gave Patjainaken, the auspicious elephant to Brahmans
from another town, resulting in the exile of Phra Vessandon
and his family, who later became ascetics in the forests.
And on his return journey to the town, he rode on a
war elephant.
Novices-to-be who are colourfully dressed
are attending the religious ceremony
in the ordination hall.
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To be ordained is believed to bring a great merit
to the parents of the monks-to-be because the ordained
ones will have an opportunity to study the Buddhist
scriptures and disciplines and apply them to the secular
life when they leave the monkhood. |
The
ceremony is held on a large scale, i.e. throughout the
whole county. Each year, no less than 10 pairs of men
and elephants join the ceremony and in some years in
the past, there were as many as 30 pairs. The young
men about to be ordained will be colourfully dressed
and put on elephant-back in a procession that goes round
the town. It is after the procession that the ritual
ceremony takes place.
The villagers joyously take part in the procession.
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As mentioned above, the ones who can be ordained as
monks need to be 20 years old. As for the boys who would
like to be ordained as novices, they must be at least
10 years old. Any men who cannot enter the monkhood
at the normal age or who get married without entering
the monkhood will find an opportunity to do so afterwards.
At Ban Hat Siao, there are two types of ordination:
*Vessandon Jataka: A story about the last incarnation
of the Buddha
Ordinary individual ordination (mostly monk
ordination) In this kind of ordination, there are mini-scale
boisterous celebrations. The period for arranging the
ceremony is before the Rains-Retreat Entry Day* or Khao
Phansa. The relatives of the monks-to-be will be
informed about the ordination and will participate in
the ceremony. Those who enter the monkhood at this time
will usually stay as monks for a phansa or
a three-month period.
*Rain-Retreat Entry is a very old tradition for
Buddhist monks to stay in their respective monasteries
during the three-month rainy season (from the day after
the full moon of the 8th lunar month to the full-moon
day of the 11th lunar month, which roughly corresponds
to August to October).
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Apart
from the elephants, the richly dressed novices-to-be
help make the Elephant-back Ordination well
known. |
Group ordination This is annually organized
around April during which there is a long holiday. The
length of staying in the monkhood ranges from seven
days to a month. Group ordination is considered as a
folk festival which is yearly arranged on 7 April.
Before the day of ordination, a group of women who are
the representatives of each ordination host, will walk
to their neighbours' homes to invite them to participate
in the ordination ceremony.
The group ordination covers 3 days with details as follows:
Day 1 is called sukdip day.
On this day the monks-to-be will prepare the eight requisites
of a Buddhist monk and the hosts will prepare the venue,
food and everything for guests.
Day 2 is the procession day. The ceremony begins
with the cleansing of the bodies of the monks-to-be.
Their hair will be shaved off and then they will take
a bath, and get dressed in colourful outfits decorated
with Tinchok patterns. They will also be lavishly
adorned with ornaments such as gold necklaces, a bronze
belt, rings and a pointed crown-like headdress which
is decorated with flowers. They all wear make up and
sunglasses. The female participants in the procession
get dressed in their traditional phasin and
the male ones get dressed in folk outfits.
Regarding the elephants in the procession which are
the vehicles of the monks-to-be, they will be bathed
at the Yom River and will be decorated with strikingly
colourful cloths. A bunch of white or red cotton threads
is hung around the elephant necks. At the end of the
threads are big tassels. On the elephant bodies, the
names of the monks-to-be are painted.
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Tourists
enjoy themselves during the ceremony.
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The procession of the ordination on elephant back starts
in the afternoon. All the monks-to-be ride elephants
to Wat (Temple) Hat Siao to form a parade and then go
round Hat Siao Town. In the procession, the atmosphere
is filled with arousing music from a brass band or a
traditional klongyao (long drum) band. The
villagers in the procession will joyfully dance while
moving with the procession. After that, they go home.
At night, folk entertainments are performed at the homes
of the monks-to-be.
Day 3 is the day to hold an ordination ceremony.
The monks-to-be will walk to the temple to attend the
ritual ceremony to become a new member of the sangha.
The procedures from now on are similar to the ordination
ceremony of other regions.
To go to witness this unique festival, you can contact
a travel agent to arrange a tour for you.
• Special thanks to TAT Northern Office Region
3 (tel: 0 5525 2742-3) for arranging a tour to Sukhothai.
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