Sacred Ink: Sacred tattoo festival in Thailand
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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.
