The Kathin festival begins next month, and Mae Chaem, a peaceful district in Chiang Mai, offers a chance to witness a rare Kathin ceremony.
The Kathin ceremony held in Mae Chaem is called Chula Kathin, or Kathin Laen in local dialect. This particular ceremony will take place at Wat Yang Luang on Oct 7 and Wat Ban Thap on Oct 14, alighting upon two major Buddhist temples in the heart of this remote district.
Kathin is a lively festival wherein Buddhists organise colourful parades and offer robes and utensils to the monks to mark the end of Buddhist Lent, or Wan Ok Phansa, which marks the end of the rainy season.
Villagers walk through rice paddies. photos: PEERAWAT JARIYASOMBAT
Chula Kathin is something special. Though Chula Kathin means "Small Kathin", its ceremony is anything but small.
In Chula Kathin, Buddhists gather to make the robes right before the parade. It is a tradition that robes for Chula Kathin be completed within a day. Thus, this special ceremony requires hearty devotion from Buddhists, particularly the community of weavers, and that is why Chula Kathin is so rare nowadays.
Set behind Thailand's highest peak, Doi Inthanon, Mae Chaem is a remote district where most housewives are also weavers. It is famed for the tubeskirts with wonderful embroideries at the bottoms called pha sin teen jok.
When Buddhists plan for Chula Kathin, they plant cotton three months in advance so cultivation can be performed on the day of the ceremony.
Select girls will be assigned as cotton collectors. When the ceremony begins, the girls will perform traditional dances and cultivate the cotton. Then the whole process will run non-stop until the robes are completed. Normally, this can take all night.
Villagers as well as Buddhists from the nearby community will lend their hands in converting cottons to monks' robes -- lending a hand to making strings, weaving, sewing and dyeing. Chula Kathin mirrors the faith and harmony of Buddhist communities.
The highlight will be the colourful parade held the next morning. Led by traditional dancers, Buddhists in Mae Chaem will carry the finished robes and make their way to the temple. The parades sometime cut through the vast rice paddies embraced by the mountains. For sure, all female villagers will wear their best pha sins while joining the merit-making.
For more information about Mae Chaem and its attractions, call TAT Chiang Mai at 053-248-604--5.
