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.
The ceremony began with Paw Can (the older man) chanting from a book written in N. Thai. After a bit one of the fathers lit a candle in the center of the satong. While the chanting was going on everyone else was silent and clasped their hands together (in a prayer-like fashion).
When the chanting was done the family gathered around and stretched out their hands to be sprinkled on by scented water above the satong (see video). Then the ceremony was complete.
Afterwards one of the fathers took the satong and placed it outside the housing complex near some rice fields.
Later the grandpa of the family explained to me that all the bad fate and fortune (from the previous year) was taken away by the chanting. The water spattered on the hands washed them clean of all “badness”. The satong was taken outside the household compound so all that bad fate could be released away from them.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
WOW… I had almost forgotten that “washing purifications” happen in so many cultures in so many ways. What’s most interesting to me is the logic behind the use of the satong PLUS the sprinkling. Who is the chanting spoken to?
May 13th, 2010 at 1:00 am
The chanting is used to drive away the “bad fate” from the family. In other words, it is a form of magic used to manipulate the unseen forces that can cause bad things to happen to a group.
Thanks for your question, Ty.