Surin spirits

[thai3]

My girfirend is fond of describing things as 'funee'

but she was dead serious when it came to a talk to

your gaurdian angel in at an all night spirit ceremony

in surin. Surin people refer to themselves as kamin

and being once part of the khmer lands they speak

kamin with many not understanding lao at all. As you

go further north there seem to be a few places where

Lao and Kamin are both spoken, then it's all lao. The

GF village is all kamin speaking and with that goes a

love of kantrum music which is not one of my favourite

sounds esp when it's just music that goes on and on

for seven hours trying to find a tune that the spirits

approve of.

This particular talk to the invisible ones ceremony

had not been done in this village for ten years or so

and seems to be some sort of thanksgiving after

someone who was dangerously ill gets better. The

dangerously ill one had been the GF brother who was

living in Pattini in the south. Having taken to the

bottle a lot in recent times (who can blame him living

there) he decided that enough was enough and promised

a monk under pain of dire consequences that he would

give up the booze for ever. Two weeks later however he

finds himself in the local ICU seriously and

mysteriously ill after going back on the piss. Seems

his body swelled up and he was about to call for the

checkout when his sister sought the help of the

village 'magician' women back in Surin. After payment

of one egg, one coke and 12 baht some mubo jumbo is

gone through and next day bro is out of ICU and on the

road to recovery, Docs no idea what had been wrong

with him, Surin is a strange place.

Some effort is gone to in putting up a sort of stage in

front of sis house where people can sit and also a

canopied area decorated with flowers and streamers

with an alter at the front. On the alter there are all

sorts stuff including candles and bowls containing

rice with an egg plonked in the middle. The kantrum

band sit at the back, in front of the alter is where

the action takes place. Someone, and a relative of the

drunken brother, has to let the spirit of their

gaurdian angel take over by going into a trance.

Helped by the magician lady the sisters take it in

turn, including the GF to go into spirit mode. This is

done by pushing a silver bowl around the floor while

remaining seated. The bowl has rice, leaves and a

candle inside. From time to time the one making the

attempt would start to shake but inevitably it would

fade away before really taking over. After about four

hours of contiuous goes at this I was about ready to

walk back to Surin but then one of the girls got the

spirit and after starting to shake violently she

starts to eat the lighted candles off the alter- a

sure sign apparently that the spirit had come.

At this point I get the runs which is not a good thing

in the middle of nowhere. When I get back from the

hong nam they are all up and dancing so I think great

it's all over then and only 11.30, somebody had said

it might go on all night, I was in luck. I ask the GF

when we migh get back to civilisation when she gives

me the bad news that TWO spirits have to be drummed up

and the second one is the brothers angel. What the

spirits say is a disappointment, but one does accuse an

absent husband of being a no good drunk and

womaniser. We get to 1.30 and they are still trying to

summon up spirit number three, the GF forgot to say

it's three and I am considering hanging myself when it

all suddenly grinds to an end at 2am.

Everyone seems to think it's been a success and the

time is not too bad I'm just so tired from hardly any

sleep the past week all I want to do is get to bed

overlooking the moon river in a room where the family

keep the old TV's because they 'feel sorry for them'

After four hours sleep I get woken up, not as on the

day previous by something resembling the glastonbury

festival at 6 am in the next room but by what sounds

like a brazillian carnival going past the house. God

what a racket, it's the glang yaw, loads of drummers

in the street at who knows what time. The GF does her

best to get me out of bed to look (she is not sleeping

in same house even of course) I beg to be left alone

and lock the door, they don't seem to sleep much in

Surin-peter

[Central Scrutinizer]

Peter,

 

I've been to something similar the past year up in the village, a Lao version of the same thing. And yes, it can go on forever it seems. My wife can play those drums they use and when the drummer gets too exhausted to play anymore she'll step in and play for an hour or so to give him a break. Amazingly enough she's a pretty damned good drummer! Never knew that one really. The spirit/guardian trance stuff is pretty eerie and creepy when this comes over them. I found it very interesting and I was wishing I had my damned camera with me at the time I witnessed this myself. BTW, sleep is something they'll eschew during many holiday clebrations and ceremonies. They'll go days on very little sleep, then drop off and sleep like the dead for a day or so to regain their strength. Khmer and Lao customs are different, but there are many similarities and various versions that overlap. Sucks having the runs! Did you have any paper, and was there a western style toilet around? I hate it when this hits and there is just a squat toilet available with a cistern of water! :-)

 

Thanks for posting this experience of yours.

 

Cent

 

p.s. BTW, I am right in the middle of finishing two stories, one on some ghosts I ran into in Surin one night, the other on some spirit stuff and stories told me I ran across one Songkran.

[thai3]

 

No paper and no normal toilet unless you class hole in the ground and tub of water as normal, what a mess!! The kantrum band were paid 4500 baht, there were four of them I was told but one had died, strangely I counted four still. I think the magician got a lot more than 12 baht this time, strange looking old bird who looked more like a tibetan than anything else.

Some interesting wats visited that always seem to be the 'most famous' or the monk somebody that 'everyone know' One was a forest wat but actually a large planted up wat full of trees and little monk huts, very famous apparently. I learned that one way out of dire poverty for boys is for them to enter the wat at a young age and if they stay the wat will put them through university. The GF brother ended up with an MA in this way then paid for her to go to university.-peter

[Central Scrutinizer]

Thai3,

 

Is that so? I hadn't heard this before. That's what I like about this board, you learn something new almost every day from one of the members. Surely not the poorer village Wats doing this though? Some Wats have big money and land holdings I know. This is good though, a good way for a boy to get a decent education. I wonder if any strings are attached to the payment of the university education? Like, they have to stay in the monastery for a certain amount of time after gaining their degree helping out in their field of study, sort of like the military does with their officers in certain fields of endeavor they have a hard time getting to enlist and stay on long enough for the money they spend educating the person to be worth their while doing so. (Doctors, lawyers, and nurses being some fields I've heard the US military does this for.) Do you have any more info on this? I didn't know this, and would like to know more about it.

 

BTW, I ALWAYS bring a roll or two of toilet paper in my travel bag when going "out in the field" so to speak. And keep one in the glovebox of the truck, just in case I forget! Always remember, going to the village is almost like going camping! Be a good Boy Scout and always be prepared. Hahahaha! Along with a small bottle of DEET mossie repellent, a small bag of Q-tips and small bottle of Iodine/Mechuricome, and anti-biotic plasters/bandaids, and a small bag of 10mg Valiums, for those certain noisy nights when you find it impossible to go to sleep! My first-aid kit for village traveling and living/visiting.

 

Cent

 

p.s. Maybe the fourth player was actually the pii of the dead guy?

[thai3]

 

 

GF says he went in at seven and to the village wat, not even the local town one. Seems that the local wat would not have the funds for this as I think she said he went to thamasatt university. There seems to be no obligations afterwards, but I imagine there are things expected. I met a guy in roi et last year who had got his engineering degree the same way although he said life as a wat boy is little more than being a servant for the older monks.-peter

[Flashermac]

<< The spirit/guardian trance stuff is pretty eerie and creepy when this comes over them. >>

 

Some years back we had a male servant in my compound become possessed by the tiger spirit. He actually had red stripes appearing on his body, plus he was snarling and making cat like gestures. None of the Thais would go near him, but the Farangs went up close to watch.

 

My maid -- from Surin, of course -- later told me she liked it much better when they were possessed by the monkey god. Then they danced around acted like monkeys.

 

And you think you understand Thailand???

 

[thai3]

 

Heard a similar story from mystic miss A from thermae about her brother in law. He stupidly took off his Buddha amulet while swimming in a stream and was possesed by the spirit of a kamin person. After that when the spirit took over he would start speaking in kamin which being from chonburi he had no previous knowledge of. No monk or spirit woman could dislodge the spirit who became more and more of a disturbance leading the guy hanging himself.-peter

[MaiLuk]

Great post on the going ons in surin. I would like to see the same, preferably while not under the spell of the gastro intestinal demon. This stuff is more real than farang want to believe.

[Flashermac]

Sometimes one wonders just what to believe! When I worked in the north, a student was allegedly possessed by her former lover from Ayuddhaya times. She had paid a visit to Ayuddhaya and dozed off on a bench. The spirit of her long ago lover recognised her and took possession of her body. The girl began acting very strangely and her friends had to restrain her from throwing her herself off of a dorm balcony. Her lover supposedly wanted her dead so they could be reunited. The monks were called and apparently "exorcised" the spook. Nevertheless, the gal did commmit suicide several years later.