Hardcore monk ordination
Monk ordination ceremonies don’t come much more moving — literally — than those in Ban Non Salao village, Chaiyaphum
You may have seen or joined a monk ordination ceremony in your neighbourhood. In some communities, a monkto-be may sit on the shoulders of a male relative or friend, on the back of an elephant, a horse or on a plastic chair in the back of a pickup truck for a parade starting from home to the temple.
But the ordination ceremony is just ordinary when compared to last week’s event in Ban Non Salao village in Phu Khieo district, Chaiyaphum, about 457km northeast of Bangkok.
The villagers challenge those who want to be ordained with a unique process. It is known as Hae Nak Hod, which literary means brutal ordination parade.
“The name might sound cruel, but we all know that no one will get hurt from the ceremony,” said Sawai Chankomol, chief of Nong Tum Municipality.
It is tradition. The villagers believe that a monk-to-be must sit on a bamboo stretcher to imitate the time when his mother had to lie on a big bamboo khrae (a low table for people to sit on or lie down) after giving birth and stay by a fire for a month. The practice is called yu fai, where in the past it was believed the process allows the womb to heal.
When it’s time for the parade, the monkto-be sits on the bamboo stretcher carried by his male friends and relatives. They will not only dance and slightly sway the stretcher according to the fast beats of Isan music, but also shake the bamboo stretcher up and down from time to time during the parade along a 3km route around the village. The action is to test the endurance of the monk-to-be and his strong determination to become a monk.
“In the past, the shaking was quite gentle,” said Sanit Sributda, in his 60s, who passed the monk ordination ceremony when he was 20-years-old. He is known as prat chaoban (a local wise person), who is an adviser to the Hae Nak Hod ceremony.
He recalled that he could sit with his palms closed in the wai position and his relative held an umbrella to protect him from the sun during the parade. “When they shook my bamboo stretcher, I could balance myself fine as the shakes were soft,” he said.
Things changed more than 40 years ago after the ordination parade of one particular monk-to-be. His name is Oad Kwankla whom his friends called nak leng — a Thai term meaning a big-hearted person who takes risks. Oad wanted to make his ordination parade more entertaining. He told his friends who carried his stretcher to shake it violently — the harder, the better.
Since 1971, the ordination parade of Ban Non Salao has never been the same. The monk ordination ceremony had be renamed “Hae Nak Hod”.
Every year, about 20 monks-to-be join the ceremony. This year, 18 men were ordained. Five of them organised the ritual at Wat Bun Thanom Watthanaram on May 7 and another 13 men were ordained at Wat Ta Khaek on May 8.
The ceremony starts at dawn when parents shave the heads of their sons. Those who join the ceremony bring mon khid (a traditional Northeastern pillow) to offer to the monk-to-be. (Most of the pillows are kept in the house of the monk-to-be and used as gifts on his wedding in the future.)
Instead of wearing a white cloth, the monk-to-be wears two prayer shawls made by his mother. As a tradition of Ban Non Salao, when a woman gives birth to a son, she has to crochet two prayer shawls and weave a head cloth and sarong for her son’s ordination day.
During the day, the mother helps the monk-to-be get dressed. She puts one prayer shawl on his left shoulder and pins the edge on the right side of his waist and another shawl from the right shoulder to the left part of waist. The son wears a sarong for the morning ceremony. Around noon, the family of each monk-to-be brings the men to join a blessing ceremony in the temple.
After the blessing ceremony is over, each monk-to-be is carried on a man’s back to be seated on a bamboo stretcher, which is topped with a mattress and a bamboo mat. He has to wear cotton gloves. Before his friends shake the stretcher, they give him a signal by nodding. The monk-to-be grabs the thick rope on each side of the stretcher tightly. They lower the stretcher to around knee height and lift it up and down to the their chests three times. The process is repeated throughout the threehour parade.
The monk-to-be sometimes can balance himself, but many times he needs help from relatives and his parents who are always around to firmly grab his hands or hold his body, helping him from falling to the ground. Many times when the stretcher is shook up, the monk-to-be falls back at an awkward position, his legs pointing up to the sky. Many people laugh with tears.
After the parade is over, some monksto-be get bruises on their lips or head. In the past there was a monk whose shoulder was dislocated, which is the worst known case. Fortunately, nobody has fallen from the stretcher to the ground so far.
“I am very glad that I joined the monk ordination ceremony. I was not scared. It’s our tradition. I can see that my mum is very happy and this makes me proud,” said Kraiwut Phrommetta, 20.
The Hae Nak Hod ceremony is also open for any man outside the village to be ordained. Each monk-to-be can choose to sit on a bamboo stretcher or on a chair in a pickup truck.
As the ceremony is unique, the Tourism Authority of Thailand lists Hae Nak Hod as part of the “They said...” campaign to promote local folklore nationwide.