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By Benjamin Malcolm
They first appear as a vision in finery, like a cabaret gone haywire,
or like a mobile circus that showcases performance art and strength.
Young boys, from eight to fourteen years old, dressed in silk, their
faces bright with rouge and lipstick, adorned with pearls and jewels
and flowered hats, riding high on an older man’s shoulders. They
are being celebrated, shaded from the hot April sun by colourful
cartoon-like umbrellas and paraded about town with music, impromptu
dancing and a sense of carnival. It is the storm before the calm;
the wild Mardi Gras of New Orleans before the sobriety of Ash Wednesday.
This is Poi Sang Long, the yearly monk initiation for Shan, or
Thai Yai, boys in the province of Mae Hong Son.
It is an old tradition in Mae Hong Son;one of many such unique
cultural institutions celebrated by the predominantly Shan residents
of the town. According to legend, the custom started with the first
Buddhist novice, Prince Yahura, the Buddha’s son, who gave up a
lavish lifestyle to follow his father. Poi Sang Long is held early
in the hot season (in late March or early April) all over Mae Hong
Son, as well as in other Shan communities of the north. The biggest
ceremonies are in the main city and in Pai.
The ceremony is supposed to last for three days, beginning when
the boys’ heads are shaved by parents and relatives. Then come the
clothes. Each boy is dressed to replicate a prince of a bygone Shan
era. Makeup is applied, faces are whitened and lips reddened and
they are dressed in silk, jewels and other decorations, including
flower hats and head bands. The effect definitely evokes a lost
age, a feeling of the 1920’s, even a Chinese opera with elaborate
costumes and robes.
Each boy is assigned guardians or attendants, including a carrier
and an umbrella holder.The parade sets off, 10 or 12 at a time,
followed by music makers (a drummer, cymbal players and horn players)
to temples. The boys’ feet are not allowed to touch common ground,
only the temple floor and home.
With the day begun and a liberal portion of rice wine consumed,
there is still energy remaining in the attendants, so the parade
moves at almost breakneck pace around Mae Hong Son, visiting temples
to beg forgiveness from abbots and the city pillar at the beginning
of the journey. By late afternoon, energy has waned and trucks are
used to carry the boys and attendants to their final destinations.
At each boy’s home, there are floor mats spread about for family
members and friends. The atmosphere of the street party continues
there.
On the final day of Poi Sang Long, the grand parade is organized,
filled with family members and important components of Mae Hong
Son’s Shan community. In the parade, there are handmade floats,
offerings for the temple, traditional dance and, of course, the
boys themselves. The parade begins at Hua Wiang temple, in the centre
of the city, before it moves down the main streets of town and out
to the temples.
After all is said and done, the boys enter the temple and don the
familiar orange robes for a short time before they have to head
back to school. The boys’ ordination gains high merit for family
members, especially the mother and father, and the occasion is an
important one for the Shan people.
Poi Sang Long is such a colourful and unique event, that it attracts
a bevy of tourists and on-lookers each year. It is truly one of
the signature drawing cards, along with the yearly sunflower festival
in December, of this small Northern Province. The parade around
town usually includes more than a few foreign and Thai tourists,
desperately trying to keep up with the procession and photograph
everything. The novices become in their own way celebrities of the
moment, before they head to the anonymity of the temple.
Poi Sang Long is not the only ceremony unique to the Shan. With
its diverse population, the province is a case study in ethnic ceremony.
Another popular celebration, “Hen Som Go Ja,” also Shan in origin,
occurs in the latter part of the year, in October or November. This
involves the making of castle-like paper structures to take to the
temple, to welcome the Buddha back from heaven after Buddhist Lent,
where he is supposed to be visiting his mother.
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Another distinctive holiday is Loy Krathong, during the first full
moon in November. In most places in Thailand, people celebrate by
lighting candles and setting them afloat (on banana stalk holders)
in rivers or lakes. The residents of Mae Hong Son also do this,
but, like their compatriots in the north, even more release “sky
candles,” sending the light adrift inside a balloon with the assistance
of the wind from the summit of 1500-metre Phra That Doi Kong Mu
Temple. The effect is as profound as the water ceremony and further
reaching, as the skies above light up above with countless floating
candles.
The Shan, along with hill tribe members, comprise the majority
of people in Mae Hong Son. Their language is similar to Northern
Thai and their style of dress, for women, includes broad Chinese-like
farming hats and long traditional skirts with short or long-sleeved
blouses that fasten across the chest from left to right.
Equally distinctive is Shan cuisine, the base of which usually
comes from dried fermented Soya beans. Stacks of these can be seen
in the markets, ready to add to curries and other dishes. One of
the famous Shan sweets is “suay tamin,” a sticky rice dish steamed,
mixed with sugar and coconut, and then cooked over charcoals. Many
examples of this and more are served throughout the day in the markets
and restaurants.
With such a diversity of ceremony, culture and food, it is little
wonder that Mae Hong Son retains its unique charm for destinations
in Thailand; a place at once filled with diversity, beauty, tradition
and, at least once a year, the colourful and lively procession of
Poi Sang Long.
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