One hot afternoon this last April (right before the Thai New Year) my neighbors called to me to photograph something.I didn’t realize I would be observing an annual ceremony held at their house.
I went in and the family, which made up of twelve people, was sitting down in their front room.They had put a satong, which is a box made from the trunk of a banana tree, between them and an elderly man who was leading the ceremony.The older gentleman was a friend of the family and a former monk.
I had a neighbor who lived just down the road from me.This man was sick.He had wrapped sai seen (white string) around his house.He didn’t get better.So some friends sought out a medium to find out what was wrong with him.
After they explained to the medium their friend’s dilemma, he decided to go and visit the man via a spirit entering his body.The medium never left his house but through a spirit’s power he was able to travel and see the sick man.Once he got there he said, “I can’t visit your sick friend.The sai seen is preventing me from entering the house.”
