Waking up to see the sun streaming through my window made
today perhaps one of my most glorious mornings in Thailand. I also slept in
later than I have any morning since I’ve been here (9:04, for the inanely
curious among you), so that might have heightened the feeling of glory. Bombing
out of bed I shot Miléna a facebook message and then high-tailed it to the
beach. I feared the sunshine wouldn’t last long, and both of us wanted to take
advantage of what little we had.
Today was just a reminder of how rejuvenating a sunny Sunday can
be, and I was amazed by what a little bit of sunshine can do for your mood. Riding our bikes
down random side soi (roads) in search of new beaches, Miléna and I accidentally
(re)discovered the road that Matt and I walked down on our first day at FED.
Not much later, we also accidentally discovered the trance-brigade
traversing the same soi.
Let me explain… Or at least try to. This past week I’ve been
witness to one of the more interesting local festivals, The Vegetarian
Festival. The festival was started by Chinese Buddhists living in Phuket in
1825. During the 9-day festival, participating individuals wear white and
abstain from eating animal products,
garlic, and onions. The motivation behind this is loosely that this
period of time is one of spiritual cleansing, which is aided by a physical
cleansing as well. The vegetarianism has obvious Buddhist roots, and apparently
garlic and onions are commonly included in the list of no-nos because they are
strong flavours (I don’t know where spices fit in). Khuek Khak’s Festival is
centered around a shrine that is not far down the side road near FED, a
convenience which has resulted in my taking a number of afternoon breaks for
tempura taro and other veg treats, as well as exposed us to many of the
festival’s more interesting aspects.
The festival, which is most famous, attended, and outlandish
in Phuket is known for ritualistic body piercings (so far I’ve seen one man
with a sword-like thing through his mouth), the ceaseless throwing of
firecrackers, and most interestingly to me—individuals who are in a trance for
nearly the entire duration of the festival. From what I got out of Daniel
there are nightly ceremonies during which individuals enter the trance. If you
enter the trance one year you are then required to participate in the annual
festival for the remaining years of your life. The trance-entering ceremonies
are apparently quite interesting, but can be long and somewhat boring as well. Seeing
individuals who were entranced today has me more curious about watching them
enter the trance, and if the weather agrees I’ll hopefully see one of the last
ceremonies of the year tomorrow or Tuesday (when they will also be walking on coals,
apparently).
As we left our first beach stop of the day Miléna and I found
our bikes inaccessible due to a number of dancing individuals, swinging what
looked like a mini-temple resting on a pole between them as they threw
firecrackers (ya know, those chalky balls that snap and create sparks and
smoke…) at the ground beneath them. The noise is unbearable and the smoke and
heat must be awful for the men dancing over them, particularly given their bare
feet. Finally making it to our bikes, Miléna removing an empty firecracker box
from her seat, we hopped on and incidentally followed the convoy of trucks to
new locations as they unloaded at various houses and resorts. Each truck
carries a number of white-clothed individuals and one person in a trance. It
seems as if the individuals accompanying the entranced person are family
members and friends, and at every stop they get out and steady the entranced
person, not robed in white but often covered in barbed wire, holding swords,
and in various states of undress. They are usually shaking their heads, eyes
rolling around, bodies trembling as they are led to an altar in front of a
house, resort, restaurant, etc. at
which the residents or resort employees, etc. kneel, bowing and reciting
incantations directed at the Gods that have taken control of the body of the entranced
individual.
Besides their medium-like role, I have absolutely no idea what
role the entranced individuals play in the festival, or how their significance
developed. I do not understand why or how
individuals are brought into the trance, nor why all but two whom I saw
today were men (you can see two women in the video). It’s an absolutely fascinating tradition and the trances
themselves had me at first rolling my eyes at individuals who are searching for some way to gain
attention (many that we saw were teenage boys), but mostly left me frustrated
that I did not have enough info to make any conclusions about what I saw
because I knew nothing about these individuals, their past, the duration of the
trance, and the gravity with which locals viewed these phenomena, among other
things. Hopefully by asking good questions I will be able to learn more over
the next few days.
Also, because I haven't posted pictures but am currently feeling ambitious/untired:
No comments:
Post a Comment