Shrill
shrieks pierce the humid morning air outside the famous tattoo Thai
temple of Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Chai Si, Thailand. On this clear,
hot morning more than ten thousand have gathered to be a part of
festival that honors Buddhist monks and others who ink the sacred
lines into the bodies of the devoted.
Through the morning, first one,
then two and then many will transform into what appear to be an
altered state and played out to the crowd of onlookers gathered in
the graveled parking lot. These Thai men, all devotees to Wat Bang
Phra, have entered into a trance called "Khong Khuen," or a magical
force rising, and this is the festival known as "Wai
Kru.
As they enter into trance their
faces become a mishmash of expressions: fear, rage, fits of
excitement and eyes rolling into a "crazed look." Suddenly, they
begin leaping to their feet. Their arms waving wildly, they run
screaming toward a sacred shrine at the temple and a statue of
their former master Luan Por Phern. Naked from the waist up most
are covered in an ancient form of Sanskrit writing from the Khmer
or Cambodian language
The origin of the "Wai Kru" or
paying respect to the teacher, is a centuries old custom in
Thailand. The "Sak Yant" tattoos the devotees have inked into their
bodies go back to ancient times as well. The term "Sak" means to
tap, which is how the tattoos are applied with a long steel spire
and "Yant" comes from the Sankrit word "Yantra" meaning an
instrument or mystical diagram.
Many say the lines in the tattoos
represent the umbilical cord to the Buddha while the round tattoos
are believed to represent the face of the Buddha. The tattoos are
thought to possess magical qualities and are amulets which can
protect the wearer from harm, believers claim.
