Tiji Festival 2019

 

In 2019, I went on three major journeys to photograph "ordinary people doing extraordinary things".

The first journey was at the end of May.  I returned to Upper Mustang, "The Former Kingdom of Lo", for the third time in three years ostensibly to witness and document a major festival, Tiji Festival" held in Lo Manthang.

The Tiji Festival is one of the two major festivals held in Lo Manthang each year.  It is held typically at the end of May and early June, prior to the start of the rainy season.  The other major festival, which I attended the previous year, is "Yartung Festival, which is held at the end of the rainy season in August.

In the 17th century the King of Mustang invited the Sakya Trizin (Holder of the Sakya Throne) in Samye Monastery in Tibet, the home of Vajrakila sacred dance, to reside at the Chode Monastery in Lo Manthang. The Tibetan culture and tradition is very strong in Mustang.  Today it is said that Upper Mustang is more like Tibet than the post WWII Chinese dominated Tibet of today.

While at the Chode Monastery, the Sakya Trizin performed a special Vajrakila ritual for the well being of all conscious as well as mindful beings such as divinities, humans, animals, tormented spirits, and denizens of hell.  He started a Cham, sacred Vajakila dances, associated with meditation.

Since that time in the 17th century, the Monks of Chode Monastery have been performing the dance and rituals.  Just as the Chams of Bhutan, every intricate movement, gesture, and expression of the dancer is prescribed and holds significant meaning.  In performing the Cham the Monk dancer has meditated to become the deity that he portrays.

The Tiji Festival, "Prayer for world peace", is a very religious Vajrayana Buddhist purification ceremony and ritual that commemorates the legend of a son who defeated his father in order to save the Kingdom of Lo.  The son, a deity named Dorji Jono, fought his demon father who had brought drought which caused famine in the land.

The Tiji Festival, which is held at the end of the dry season and the start of the wet growing season, commerates the victory of good over evil.

The Tiji Festival is a three day event.  In 2019 the first day of the festival was May 31st.  On the morning of the 31st, I attended a puja, a religious ritual, at the Chode Monastery.  I did not take any photographs because photography is not allowed UNLESS you had purchased a special permit just for that event.  If I remember is was something like $100 for two hours.

Unfurling the Thankla

In the afternoon, the ceremony started with a procession of costumed Monks from the monastery to the courtyard south of the Palace Gate and East of the Royal Palace.  I had been informed that the festivities would commence at 1:00 PM.  I arrived early, around 12:00 PM in order to not miss anything.  The area for spectators was already rapidly filling with people - locals as well as tourists.  I found a good location and sat on the cobble stone paving to await the start. 1:00 PM came and went.  I spoke with some people and they informed me that the ritual would start around 2:00 PM.  2:00 PM came and went.  I spoke with a monk that I know in Lo Manthang and he informed me that the start would be at 3:00 PM.  3:00 PM came and went.  However, at 3:30 PM the festivities actually started.  The wait and confusion is fairly typical for events in Upper Mustang.  Waiting is not all that unpleasant when you are surrounded by such beautiful scenery, ancient buildings, interesting local residents, and perhaps just as important - protecting your vantage point from the ever increasing number of spectators.

A Grandfather Escorts His Grandson

Monks Arriving at the Festival Site

Monk Performing Cham

 

The second afternoon, was highlighted by unfurling the ancient Thangka.  The ancient tapestry is said to be 400 years old.  It depicts the image of the Padmasambhava also known as Guru Rinpoche.  Guru Rinpoche was an 8th century Buddhist master.  He constructed the first monastery in Tibet.  He he is widely worshiped as the second Buddha by devotees of Tibetan Buddhism, typically found in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the mountainous areas of India.

Devotees of Tibetan Buddhism believe that viewing the sacred dances and the thangka brings them peace as well as prosperity.  The chams performed during the Tiji Festival cleanses Lo Manthang and surrounding area of evil spirits.

Unfurling the ancient thangka of Guru Rinpoche

The afternoon of the second day of the Tiji Festival, is filled with sacred dances, Chams.  The Chams performed on that day are more energetic and lively than the ones performed the previous afternoon.

Local women pay their respects to Guru Rinpoche

Lamas play cymbals and blow radong (long horn)

 

Monks Performing Durdag Cham - Lord of the Cremation Ground Dance

Lord of the Cremation Ground Dance

Young Monk Performs  Cham

On the third day of the festival, June 2, involved more sacred cham performances at the festival site.  At approximately, 5:00 PM there was a procession lead by the Lamas from the festival site through the streets of Lo Manthang to a field outside of the village.

Inside of Lo Manthang, Lamas beat drums and chant

At the edge of town, the man who many people recognize as the King stopped and lit the musket held by his bodyguard.  The matchlock musket erupted in a thunderous clap and filled the air with copious clouds of white smoke along with fragments of paper.  The firing of the musket is to banish evil from the town.

The "King's" Bodyguard Holds and Ancient Musket that the "King" Has Just Fired.

Once the procession had cleared the village of Lo Manthang, the ritual was concluded in an open field with the snow capped Himalaya mountains as a backdrop.  Several times, the ancient matchlock muskets were fired to signify the destruction and defeat of Dorjee Jono's evil father for the benefit of Lo Manthang and the Lowa people.  Firing of the muskets also banished any current demons from the region.

Outside of Lo Manthang, a man loads his ancient musket

Men Prepare Musket to be fired

Ramming the Charge

I am glad that I attended the Tiji Festival.  It was a interesting and unique experience.  

Would I return to the Tiji Festival?

Having "been there and done that", I can honestly say that I would not return to the Tiji Festival.

The ritual and ceremony met all my expectations.  The photo opportunities met my needs.

The local people were friendly and very photogenic.  It was a pleasure to see some friends once again and to make some new friends.

However, I did not completely enjoy my visit like during the previous two journeys to Lo Manthang.

The problem on this visit were the other foreign visitors.  There were not necessarily a great number of foreign visitors but I estimate that there were approximately 200 foreigners.  For a "town" of 500 residents, the amount of visitors made a big impact.

Two hundred visitors in the confined space of the Royal Palace Courtyard along with the local people attending THEIR festival was difficult.

I can tolerate the number of visitors.  I can even live, but grudgingly, with some of them wearing bright yellow or red jackets - who wants  photographs of an ethnic festival with brightly dressed foreigners conspicuously in the background? I always attend dressed in tan and black to minimize my visual impact on others.

What I have a low tolerance for and have difficulty in accepting is the poor behavior of  some visitors.  Granted that most visitors behave properly but there is a certain percentage of people who behave poorly.  The greater the number of people in any group, the greater the number of miscreants. I have also found that certain nationalities also tend to be more prevalent to poor public behavior.

Americans used to be considered to be the world's worst tourists.  They have been superseded by Chinese, South Korean, Russian, and German tourists.  I suspect that Italian tourists could also outrank the Americans now.

The Tiji Festival is highly publicized and touted for tourism to Upper Mustang.  Although Upper Mustang receives approximately 3,000 visitors a year, the vast majority of them arrive for the three day Tiji Festival.  Most have not done their homework as to what the festival is about, and most of all how sacred and important it is to the local people.

The festival is for the local people.  They believe that just by attending and witnessing the ritual, they will receive blessings and merit.  The festival is not a commercial event to attract tourists and their money.

Some of the visitors that I observed behaved as if the festival was being conducted for their benefit and entertainment.  That did not excuse their boorish behavior.  On the right hand side of the courtyard, there were a series of well made long benches with red plush cushions on top of them. HINT.  HINT!  They were obviously not intended for tourists!  Other than the chairs set up on the opposite side of the courtyard with "VIP" signs on them, there were no other seating arrangements at the performance venue.

I realized right off the bat that these benches were for the Monks.  Taking advantage of that, I stood right behind them with my knees against the bench - I knew that the young Monks would not be standing and I would have an unobstructed view of the ritual.  

Many tourists came and sat on the benches before the start of the ritual.  Perhaps they did not know or realize.  Some of the tourists sat and refused to move even when they were told that the benches were for the Monks.  As the young Monks stood before them, they would not move.  Even when they were informed by the local people they refused to allow the Monks to use the benches.  Only after an authority figure in a uniform arrived did they reluctantly vacate the benches.

The area of the courtyard where the cham is performed is sacred ground having been purified before the start of the ritual and marked out in two large concentric red lines placed by a Monk pouring the red liquid on the cobble stoned courtyard.  This did not stop some tourists from sitting in the space and refusing to move or respect the area when informed ...until an authority figure appeared with a baton to move them.

Some people behaved even more disgracefully.  There was one Chinese female tourist who kept violating the sacred space to squat and get "HER" shot.  Her presence at times interfered with the movement of the performers. Despite protests from local as well as other tourists she persisted with her obnoxious and inconsiderate behavior.  She became well known and despised throughout the festival.

One foreign man would stand in front of the seated local people at the edge of the audience obstructing their view.  He was not there for a short period of time to take a photo but to watch the ritual!  At other times I saw him placing his hand on local people to move them.  

These were all behaviors that I had not observed in Lo Manthang during my other trips.  It was not an environment that I enjoy or prefer.

Tiji Festival Gallery Is Now Available

 

I am getting caught up on my photography website.  Today I got around to selecting and uploading 45 photographs from my May/June 2019 journey to Upper Mustang, The Former Kingdom of Lo, in Northern Nepal to attend the Tiji Festival.

The Tiji Festival is an annual event which commemorates the forces of good vanquishing evil.  It is a ritual which has deep roots in Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana practice.  It has been conducted in Lo Manthang since the 17th century.

https://www.hale-worldphotography.com/2019-Tiji-Festival-Upper-Mustang

Mobile App Link:

https://www.hale-worldphotography.com/2019-Tiji-Festival-Upper-Mustang?mobile=true

First Gallery of 2018 August Trip Is Available

The first gallery of photographs, "Faces of Nepal", is now available for viewing on my photography website.

https://www.hale-worldphotography.com/2018-Faces-of-Nepal

This gallery contains 39 selected portraits of some of the amazing people that we encountered during our 15 day tour to Nepal, specifically Upper Mustang for the Yartung Festival.

Nepal is an extraordinary place with some amazing people.  It is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to with some of the most kind people that I have met during all my travels.

Bun Khao Saht - Celebration of the Dead



Villagers Make Offerings to the Spirits of Family Members



Tuesday was a special day in Isaan.  September 5th, this year, is Bun Khao Saht also known as Boun Khao Salak or "Celebration of the Dead" in neighboring Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos).  It is the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival held on the day of the tenth Full Moon of the lunar calendar.  For Westerners the moon is called the "Harvest Moon".

On this special day, merit making is performed by offering food to the Phii (ghosts) of family members.  People also earn merit through offering a special treat called "Kao Tawtek" to their local Monks.  Kao Tawtek is a mixture of freshly popped rice, caramel, peanuts, shredded coconut and millet.  It is made in backyards, front yards, and side yards throughout Isaan just prior to Wan Kao Saht - typically in huge woks over wood fires. It is also traditional on this day for older people to give gifts of Kao Tawtek and money to children.

Like many things here in Thailand, Bun Khao Saht seems to be adapted and amalgamated from other cultures. The Chinese celebrate a Hungry Ghost Festival and "Ghost Day" around the same time.  In Vietnam, the second biggest holiday with an emphasis and focus on children is celebrated at this time of the year.

I drove out to Tahsang Village, my wife's home village, early in the morning to be able to participate in the daily merit making ritual of offering food to the Monks.  This has been one of the most wet monsoon seasons since I have been in Thailand, even more than last year.  Since we returned to Thailand from our trip to America on July 18th, we have had rain all but three days.  Mud is everywhere and some of the country roads have moving water flowing across them.  Of course the combination of rain and traffic is taking a heavy toll on all the roads.  Potholes and failing pavement are now the norm.

Just as I reached her village to make the turn to drive through the fields where the Wat is located a truck stopped in front of me.  The driver, who I recognized, motioned that he wanted to talk.  Through his limited use of English, my limited knowledge of Thai/Lao, and a great deal of pantomime, I understood that the normal route was closed and I should follow him.

After an even more circuitous route on an even more bumpy road covered with more mud as well as puddles through the towering sugar cane fields, we made it to Wat Pha That Nong Mat.

On Bun Khao Saht, in addition to earning personal merit, the participants earn merit for the spirits of their dead relatives.  It is especially important to make offerings to family members who died during the year since that last Bun Khao Saht.

In the Lao Loum culture, as well as other Southeast Asia cultures, the people have to take care of the spirits of their family as well as other ghosts.  Spirits need merit in death as well in life to assist them in their journey to enlightenment.  Merit is the basis for determining what form and status a person will be reincarnated as in a future life.

Villagers Make Offering of Food for the Monks

The villagers, in addition to the normal offerings of food for the Monks, had brought baskets of special foods wrapped in banana leaves.  The baskets were carefully placed on the floor of the newly completed Viharn (several years under construction but finished now) next to a concrete column.  A sai sin (sacred cotton string) was placed across the tops of the baskets.  The sai sin ran up the column, across the Viharn and ran down a second column near where the Monks sat slightly above the villagers.  The sai sin terminated in a ball placed on a plate at the side of the Wat's senior Monk.  The sai sin connects this world to other worlds, the laypeople to the Monks and conveys the merit making to the deceased people.

Many of the women were dressed in white uniforms like the attire that Duang wears just about every night when she conducts her ritual upstairs in our home where my roll top desk has been converted into a shrine.  The women, including Duang and her mother, were participating in a women's retreat at the Wat.  They spent the remainder of the day and most of the night reading and studying the scriptures and receiving lectures from the Monks.

Monks Select their Food from the Offerings Made to Them

The offering of food to the Monks was a typical daily ritual with one exception, while the Monks ate their one meal of the day, the women in the white costumes along with a couple of Brahmans chanted in Pali for most of the time.

Prior to Start of Daily Food Offering Ritual, Monks Bless Food Offerings to the Spirits

At the end of the daily food offering ritual, the villagers gathered up their baskets and went outside. The villagers scattered throughout the Wat grounds selecting specific trees to stop at before going to their family tat where the bones of their family are interned.  The offerings made at the trees were for family members who died prior to the family having enough money to buy a tat as a repository for their bones.

Duang's Mother Lights Two Candles for Offering to the Spirit of her Husband

The food was placed upon banana leaves and consisted of peeled fruits, sticky rice, chili sauces, dried fish, kao tawtek and other typical Isaan foods.  Off to the side was a banana leaf with betel-nut chewing items.  After the foods were laid out, water was poured over them as the family members communicated to the spirits.

Water Is Poured Over the Offering In the Act of Transference of Merit

The offerings to the spirits also included two lit yellow candles and two sprigs of "dogkhut" - I suspect Thai jasmine buds.  When offerings are made to the Buddha, three of each item are offered - one for Buddha, one for the teachings of Buddha (Dhamma), and one for the Buddhist religious community (Sanga).  For spirits the offerings are in pairs.

After the family spirits residing in the tats had been offered food and drink, the people hung filled thin banana leaf packets in the trees throughout the grounds.  The banana packets contained food offerings to the other family spirits whose bones were not interned in the tat.



Duang and some other women, made food offerings to the spirits of relatives whose bones are kept in highly decorated steeple or spire shaped structures called "Tats".  Tats are reliquaries for bone chips of departed ancestors.  More affluent villagers have a free standing tat and those less affluent will often have a niche inside of the block walls that surround Wats.

After a while, around ten minutes, one of the men rang the Wat's large bell three times signifying that the spirits had completed eating.  The small banana leaf packets were quickly removed from the trees and returned to the family baskets.  The packets will later be placed in the sugar cane fields, rice paddies, and other lands to feed the spirits (ghosts)  that inhabit them.  In return for feeding the hungry ghosts, the people ask that the spirits watch over the land and its crops bringing success as well as good luck to the owners.


The villagers returned to the Viharn to have a community meal with the food leftover from the offerings to the Monks.  There is always too much food offered to the Monks and since they are allowed to take only what they can eat that morning for their one meal of the day ensuring that there are always "leftovers".

Bhutan - Fifth Gallery Is Now Available

Finally!  Finally the fifth gallery of our trip to Bhutan earlier this Spring is available for viewing on my photography website.

 http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Bhutan-Day-8

This gallery covers the eighth day of our journey across Bhutan.  Most importantly the gallery documents the first day of the 2017 tsheschu - Domhkar Festival.

May 5, 2017 was the first time that Duang and I had witnessed the sacred dances called "cham" which are so important and defining of Tibetan and Bhutanese religious culture.

The event made quite an impression upon us and we consider it to be an experience of a lifetime.

This gallery of 74 selected photographs has been distilled down from over 4,000 photographs that I took that day - thank goodness for digital photography, I could not afford to do it in the old days of film!  I am pleased and proud of these photographs which I believe represents the best work that I have ever done in photography.

What Becomes of Cremains In Isaan

In a person's life there are many questions, some that will never be answered.  They say that there is no such thing as a stupid or even a silly question.  However, some questions have more importance and significance than others.

Fifty-one years ago, in 1965, Jimmy Ruffin, in his hit song "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?" wondered about what happened to people who experience a common condition for people of all ages, backgrounds, economic status, and cultures.  I don't know if he ever got an answer or if there is even an answer to what becomes of the broken hearted.  I do know that from the lyrics of the song, he had the proper attitude and an adequate coping mechanism - "I know I've got to find some piece of mind, I'll be searching everywhere, Just to find someone to care"

Here in Isaan, I have attended 18 funeral rituals.  Up until the last funeral ritual, September 10th, my personal experience ceased with the smoke rising from the cremation furnace with all attendees departing the Wat for the family home for some more drinking and eating. It has often crossed my mind as to "What happens to the cremains of the beloved departed?"

Bone Washing Ritual

My next involvement or experience with the departed or more specifically the remains of the departed, was at Songkran when the family would gather together to wash the bones of the dead.  During the bone washing ritual, small bone fragments that are stored in a small container called a ghoat are rinsed with water in a special ritual.

The amount of bones retained by the family is a small amount and does not contain ashes from the cremation of the body.  I knew that the cremation process had to produce more bone fragments than were stored in the ghoats and definitely a significant amount of ash.  I asked Duang about it and she had told me that the other bone fragments and ash were buried on the Wat grounds.

It was not until two weeks ago, that I got to experience as Paul Harvey used to say "the rest of the story"

With the exception of Monks, the bodies of people are typically cremated around 2 or 3 PM.  The next morning starting at 7:00AM the cremains are retrieved by the Monks often with involvement by family members.

Following Duang's advise, I got up at 3:30 AM and arrived at the Wat inside of Thasang Village around 5:00 AM - before the Monks had woken up.  I arrived so early that even the Wat dogs had not woken up yet!  It was pitch black outside so I had to very cautiously walk across the mud from my truck to the concrete landing of the stairs leading up to the bot (ordination hall).  After awhile the Wat dogs woke and sensed my presence.  They were not pleased at all and aggressively let me know as well as the nearby villagers.  Wat dogs do not have a reputation as  bad as their cousins - junkyard dogs but they can be intimidating.  I hurriedly opened the metal gate across the stairway, quickly shut the gate behind me and ascended the stairs to the bot.  From my safe perch on the porch of the bot, I looked down upon the gang of Wat dogs and gave them the evil eye as the sky lightened up in the east with the rising sun obscured by heavy threatening cloud cover.

Around 6:00 AM the Monks arose and upon reassuring the Wat dogs that all was alright in this world, peace and calm returned to the Wat.  I vacated my sanctuary in the bot and joined the Monks at ground level around the crematorium.  I learned that the ritual would commence at 7:00 AM.

Duang arrived with a car full of people - the Monk and her friends from the Wat near our home.  She was shortly joined by her son, daughter and their families as well as family members and friends.

The ritual started with the Abbot of the Wat opening the doors of the furnace and checking things out.  Everything was apparently in good order, so he instructed Duang's son to proceed.  Duang's son used a long metal handled hoe to push the ash and remains through the grating of the heavy metal cremation bed down through the furnace to a couple sheets of recycled corrugated metal at the base of the furnace.

With the help of his sister's boyfriend, Duang's son pulled the cremation carriage out from the interior of the furnace.  With stiff handcrafted brooms and under the supervision of the Abbbott, they brushed ash and dust from the carriage onto the floor of the furnace and then down the natural draft duct to the corrugated metal below.  Ash and dust wafted into the air forcing the young men to occasionally back off to catch their breadths and clear their throats.

Luang Tong Points Out Some Missed Ash

With the carriage and topside of the furnace acceptably clean, the young men and Monks descended the stairs of the furnace, walked around to the base at the backside of the furnace.

Duang's son pulled the sheets of corrugated metal covered with his father's remains from underneath the furnace through the natural draft opening at the back of the furnace.

Using some large freshly fashioned chopsticks cut from some nearby bamboo, the Monks sifted through the ash and still glowing embers of the funeral pyre to recover bone fragments.  Once the Monks had selected and set aside the largest fragments, family and friends took up positions around the corrugated metal to complete the search for bone fragments.

Family Recovering Bone Fragments From Cremains

The recovered bone fragments were placed off to the side on top of a recycled piece of the fine plastic mesh that is placed upon the ground to recover rice kernels during the threshing process.  There were not that many bone fragments and they were all rather small - under 5 to 6 inches long.  Readily identifiable fragments were vertebrae, ulna, radius, ribs, a very small skull patch and a ball joint from a knee, elbow, or ankle.  The collected bones and mesh were formed into a ball and dipped 5 times into a plastic bucket of water.  The five dips signify the moral code of five precepts that Buddhist laypeople take:

     Refrain from harming living things
     Refrain from taking what is not given
     Refrain from sexual misconduct
     Refrain from lying and gossip
     Refrain from taking intoxicating substances

After the bones had been washed they were carefully and reverently placed inside of an ordinary plain clay pot and covered with a white muslin cloth secured with a sacred string (sai sin) wrapped three times around the neck of the pot - three times being symbolic of the three gems of Buddhism - "Buddha", "the Teachings of Buddha", and the Buddhist Religious Community (Sanga).

The pot of bones were then taken and presented to the Monks who were seated in a single line on sahts placed upon the ground off to the side of the assembled family. The bones were presented by an uncle who besides having been a Monk earlier in his life also received additional special training making him a "tapakhao"  Started with the Abbott of the Wat, and then the visiting Monk, Luang Tong, each of the Monks poured water into the pot containing the bones. The act of pouring water in this case was not to cleanse the bones before them.  The act of pouring the water was the act of transference of merit to the departed spirit.

After the last Monk had poured water on the bones, a Brahman performed an offering ritual to the Monks.

The clay pot containing the bone fragments as well as water from the Monks was brought to the area where the family was seated on sahts placed on the ground.  The water was decanted from the clay pot into another container.  A woman selected specific fragments from the pot for placement in a ghoat next to the pot and eventual interment in a tat on the Wat grounds.



Selecting Fragments To Be Stored in the Ghoat

 At this point, the family placed many small yellow candles amongst the ashes and embers remaining on the recycled corrugated metal sheets.  The offering plate from the just concluded ritual with the Monks was also placed on the metal sheets.

Duang's son and some other male family members went off to the edge of the Wat grounds behind the furnace and dug a small hole in the area where deceased people's last possessions are burned as part of the cremation ritual.  The clay pot with bone fragments was placed into the hole followed by the ashes and embers from the metal sheets.  The contents of the offering plate were then placed into the hole followed by the pouring of drinking water from a plastic bottle.  The hole was then filled with dirt.  The ritual was over.

A mystery of the Universe had not been solved but for me, my question of what becomes of cremains here in Isaan had been answered.  As for Jimmy Ruffin's question of what becomes of the broken hearted ... I have been there and done that.  The answer is their life moves on, their life changes, and if they are fortunate, they do find someone who cares along with peace of mind.