Sword Dance
After the sword dance, the old lady lit several yellow candles and walked through the crowd. As she did, the people gave her the traditional Thai show of respect known as the wai, with the palms pressed together. When she reached me she waved the candles in a clockwise motion, then put them in her mouth, held them there for several agonizing seconds, and removed them—as they were still lit!
A few minutes later another woman emerged and stood at the front of the crowd. As she did, several children tossed marigold petals over her. Afterwards she took a silver bowl and poured water over her hair ten times. By this time yet another woman, dressed in white, began an energetic dance with great intensity on her face. I asked someone what was going on and he told me that a dragon spirit had possessed the women. He explained that the man I had seen when I first walked in was King Taksin, who saved Thailand from the Burmese in 1767. The “King” was sitting on a sort of throne while people knelt in front of him as he touched the heads of those assembled. As I watched, the man I had been talking to invited me to join in.
Women Possessed by Dragon Spirit
Join in? In what? Had I been in America I would have assumed I was in an insane asylum, but this was clearly a normal part of life here. But did I really want to join in something than involved possession by spirits? I guess I did because I got on my knees and joined the line. Everyone approached the “King” on their knees, and when it was my turn he put his hand on my head. I have to say that I was starting to wonder if I was going to suddenly disappear and be replaced by a prince. Well, nothing like that happened.
Just as I was surveying the whole scene and wondering if I had either entered a whole new realm of Thai culture or had somehow slipped through a wormhole onto another planet, an elderly lady, probably in her seventies, sat down next to me. She introduced herself in impeccable English, telling me that she had spent some time in the United States as a student while earning her Ph.D. at Rutgers University.
I asked her about the ceremony and she told me it had three purposes: First to celebrate King Taksin, second to honor teachers, and third to honor the Buddha’s disciples. While she was talking a Thai lady stopped and spoke to her. She turned to me and said, “There will be another ceremony upstairs in a few minutes and you’re invited.” So I followed the lady up the stairs to a large room.
At the front of the room was an amazing sight: an area of about eight square feet was exquisitely decorated with trees, swans, nagas (supernatural beings), and ships made from strips of banana leaves that had been meticulously folded. There were at least 1,000 of these banana leaf strips in all.
The Upstairs Altar
The old lady pointed to several people and told me they were possessed by Hindu gods. I wanted to ask if the people in attendance really believed that these people were possessed, but that would have been hard to do as I didn’t want to say, “Do you really believe that?”
I managed to work my way around the issue until I got her to tell me that indeed, they were to be possessed by the gods. Times like this made me feel further away than any map ever could. Distance in miles is one thing. Distance in way of living and thinking can be far more awe-inspiring.
The ceremony began with a lady singing as the music went from being background music to the centerpiece of the event. The man who represented King Taksin stood up and placed several bank notes over three banana leaf “trees.” The lady told me that it was money donated for the ceremony. He then took a silver bowl with flowers and incense and slowly moved it around the “tree.” The music faded into background music after he finished and everyone began a slow chant. The lady explained that the chants were for teachers, angels, and the Buddha.
After it came to an end a lady began a loud chant in great contrast to the earlier gentle chant. As that came to an end, four very large bowls were passed to the people on each side of the banana leaf decorations. I got a brief glimpse of the bowl and thought it contained salad, but then realized that it had the petals of several different flowers. The people with the bowls threw the flower petals around the room. As they did, everyone held out cupped hands. I got a clover flower in my hand, which the lady said represented long life. The marigolds, she explained, were for prosperity, the roses for happiness, and a white flower I couldn’t identify for love.
After a pause, several bowls and very small kan-toks, or stands, were passed around. The lady took a kan-tok that had a lit candle, three unlit candles, a bottle of perfume, and three lotus buds. She asked me to hold half of it and said, “This is for teachers.” Someone uttered a soft prayer, followed by silence and soft Thai music. The lady told me to wish blessings upon my teachers, starting from the one who taught me the alphabet. After a few minutes there was another prayer and she told me that this would be for the Buddha.
When the prayers were finished everyone held the kan-tok over our heads, finally setting it on the floor. After another few minutes of silent prayer, the Hindu part of the ceremony began. The tempo of the music increased and there was yet another wailing chant. A man dressed in green began making an energetic speech.
“He’s Ganesh,” the lady whispered, “The god of wisdom and fine arts.” After the speech more flower petals were cast. He began his speech again, his voice exuding more and more energy as he kept using the word, “Narai.” The lady told me that Narai is the Thai word for the god Vishnu.
““He has come to earth nine times,” she explained," And he will come again in the future.” She said the purpose of this part of the ceremony was to welcome him if he decided to return that year.
When that ended a man and a woman got up and started singing as two more got up and danced. The lady told me that the man and woman represented Ganesh’s parents, the god Shiva and goddess Lakshi. The two women dancing were nagas. Their dance was energetic when it started, but soon became manic. Finally, one of the “dragons” began to shake as if she were having convolutions. She dropped to her knees while “Lakshi” held her palm on her forehead as she shook. When she had become totally exhausted she sat down, a mere mortal again. After another round of flower petals, chanting and a brief chat over tea with one of the “dragons” who was sitting near me, the next part of the ceremony began. This was quite simple, another lady reciting a chant in Pali (the language of the Buddha) and Thai.
More Dragon Women
After the chant, the final part of the ceremony was carried out. “King Taksin” took a candle on a long pole and lit three candles on top of the “trees.” From this the old lady I had seen when I first walked up to the ceremony took nine candles, lit them, and waved them around the altar clockwise. The lady I was watching this with told me the event was over and that she had to leave. After thanking her profusely, I got up to go too.
I had a lot to think about on the bus ride home. Do Thais really believe they can be possessed by Hindu gods, and if so, what does that say about their Hindu beliefs? Do most Thais have a desire to be possessed, or is this just for special people?
Back in Lampang I took pictures of the event to some adult students and asked them to tell me what was going on. They didn’t really tell me anything I hadn’t already known or figured out, but their attitude told me a lot that I hadn’t expected. Many Thai told me about their spirits, ghosts, angels and other supernatural beings, and these students were no exception. But this event inspired a different reaction. Several told me that these people “thought” they were being possessed.
As I showed the picture to other Thai people I was surprised by how much skepticism I encountered. Thai people apparently don’t believe every supernatural claim that is made to them. That made sense, as the Buddha discouraged magic and superstitution. Nonetheless, southeast Asian culture is haunted by spirits and ghosts. Belief in spirits and their power is as inseparable from Thai culture as Buddhism its self.
