I had an interesting and “out of this world” Thai Xperience the other day when I was invited to a religious ceremony called “Wai Kru”. The word “Wai Kru” means paying respect to the teachers and in this case, the teachers are spirits of holy gurus and various deities of the Buddhist and Hindu tradition. The spirits of these teachers are invited to bless the ceremony and give blessings to the participants. What makes this invitation intriguing and somewhat bizarre is that the invited takes possession of the various mediums or spiritualists! The ceremony then turns into a sort of spiritual party with music, dance, and flower showers!
 
Though Thailand is primarily a Buddhist country with over 90% of the population practicing Buddhism, there are mixtures of Hinduism, Brahmanism, and Animism added into the religious practice. The “Wai Kru” ceremony isn’t related to the practice of Buddhism at all and it’s therefore something not common to the average Thais. I have only heard of this ceremony by word of mouths or saw it briefly on television or in magazines, so to actually attend one and fulfill one of my many curiosities was quite a thrill!

The ceremony took place at a house of one of the practitioners and started off just before the crack of dawn. Buddhist monks are first invited to the house and performed a blessing with chanting and the sprinkling of holy water to cap things off for the Buddhist part of the ceremony. That was when I arrived, and just in time to receive a splash of holy water and breakfast!  After the monks left the house, breakfast was served. I had a bowl of steaming hot rice porridge that tasted oh so heavenly, probably because I was starving at the time. I hungrily devoured the porridge within minutes and wanted to ask for about 3 more bowls, but decided against it since I didn’t want people to think I’m a pig and fearing my head ending up on the offering altar

After breakfast, the respecting of the teachers or Wai Kru ceremony started. Everyone gathered inside the house and some sat outside on chairs that were provided, since there wasn’t enough room inside. The spiritualists or mediums put on their costume and sat cross legged on a floor area separated from all the guests. As for me, I took my place amongst the spiritualists out of ignorance, right next to a “Ruesi” or holy guru. I guess people thought I was a medium myself, so no one said anything to me.

The “Master of Ceremony”, a man dressed in white with a cone hat, started off the ceremony by paying respect to Lord Buddha and all holy entities. He then blew into a conch shell to signal the start of the invitation and the live band then played classical Thai music with the xylophone, drums, strings and other percussion instruments. In a song like manner, the name of holy teachers are called out one by one and within a few minutes, the spirits started to take possession of the mediums around me. Some raised their hand in the air and performed a sort of dance with their hand. Others got up and performed a dance to the rhythmic sound of the drums and xylophone, while some sat still and raised their hand in a blessing gesture. The invited spirits then take turn blessing the ceremonial altar and participants by sprinkling flower petals and holy water. This went on for over 3 hours as many sprits came and go on the calling of the master of ceremony. Each spirit had a different personality and costume, and all gave blessings to the participants.

I have never been blessed by so many sprits in my entire life! I felt quite refreshed even after sitting cross legged for over 3 hours. After all the sprits came and blessed the people, the master of ceremony made a final prayer to close off the ceremony. It was then lunch time and everyone went outside the house and sat in a circle on the mats provided. A whole array of foods was then served, from Somtum, fried chicken, soups, and parts of the pig’s head that was previously on the offering altar. I sat with a group of mediums and just ate without saying much to them, as my head was still spinning from the whole experience. I wanted to ask many questions, but I didn’t exactly know how to start off the conversation, so I just smiled and nodded while chewing on rice and roasted pig snout.

After having my fill of lunch and chitchatting with some of the participants, I thanked the host for having invited me and said my good-bye. I regreted leaving so early because right after I left, one of the spirits told the winning lottery number, 411. Everyone that was still there all won the lotto that day, including the host who won 70,000 Baht! This was one Xperience that I’ll never forget, not because I didn't win the lotto, but because of the intriguing and bizarreness of it all. Next time I'll stay a bit longer though, and perhaps I'll bring a video camera and prepare some questions for the mediums beforehand