Little Princes

Last week we set of to a rural village with some members of Casey's organization. We were there to partake in the ordination ceremony of approximately 40 boys. The though many boys throughout Thailand are ordinated as novices each year, the elaborate celebration that takes place before the ordination is unique to this area. The ceremonies of the town and the surrounding villages are very similar to the elaborate affairs held in Burma. The ceremony we attended lasted for 3 days. We've heard that in Burma they last for a whole week.

For the first two and a half days of the ceremony the boys are treated like kings. Their parents dress them up in magnificent customs of brillant colors. They wear a crown of neon fake flowers and their parents splash on more make-up than most teenage girls wear at home (and these are boys, remember). Many of the boys were painted like a canvas with Burmese powder. The boys were not allowed to walk anywhere but instead they were carried on the shoulders of their family members. They could not even feed themselves and I saw many mothers raising spoons to her child Prince like he was two years old. There were a lot of parades around the village and singing and dancing around the monastery. They must of had the time of their lives!

Casey's organization had paid for the ordination fees of 11 of the boys so they would be taken care of in the monastery. Many of these boys had come across the border to escape the situation in Burma.


Some Background Information
As I have recently found out, Burma has the highest rate of child soldiers of any country in the world. The Burmese government "recruits" soldiers, often by going to a village and demanding the village head to find them so many soldiers for their next tour. The government is still fighting a few minority rebel groups and even the ceasefire groups are known to actively recruit children into their armies. In the rural areas of Northern Burma, there is also a lot of drug abuse. Burma is second only to Afghanistan in the production of illicit opium and it's derivatives.

We interviewed three young boys for "Kids Around the World." This is a school program of the National Peace Corps association. The goal of this program is to help teachers bring international issues into the class room. The idea premise is that elementary school children around the world are interviewed in their native language. The questions are about what they do, what they like and how they live. There are also links on information for each country the children live in.

I am very excited about this project and asked Casey's organization to help. They were able to secure interviews for three of the children they assisted. We sat down with them all garbed up and asked away. Of course they were shy.

We later found out that two of the young boys who have been in Thailand for five years because their parents were afraid they'd become child soldiers. They came to live with their "uncle" but they have grown up in the village monastery instead. In the monastery, the boys are safe from the Thai authorities who randomly raid areas for illegal immigrants. If the children were to live with their uncle, chances are they could be sent back to Burma. But, because of some obscure Thai law, anyone who is ordained and living in a monastery is exempt from being deported. Thus, the ordination ceremony and thus the NGO's involvement to ensure the safety of these children. Sadly this is a common case.

Day 1
Casey attended the first day of the celebration. He said it was a smallist event, though he did manage to rack up a large number of pictures. Mostly it was just the locals parading about the children who will soon become monks.

Day 2
We arrived early in the morning. Casey's organization was kind enough to lend us some traditional clothing. Their Thai driver got a big kick out of the Pa-O from America and kept asking up to speak in Pa-O. Sadly after a month and a half here all I could respond was "Am Den (Let's eat)!" This made him chuckle, of course.


The parade was to honor the boys. Everyone in the parade dressed up to the nines. We were the only Pa-O, there were many in Burmese and Shan style longgyis (skirts) and many people from other tribes were dressed up just to watch the parade.





Everyone in the parade carried offerings for the monastery. I always love looking into the offering baskets, half of it never maeks sense to me: the small can of condensed milk next to the small can of coconut milk which is in front of individual packets of instant hot chocolate. All things to help create healthy young novices! Casey was the photographer while I marched away with the rest of the Pa-O women. The parade was at a hellishly slow pace and lasted at least an hour though we didn't travel for more than a kilometer (perhaps a slight exaggeration on my part, but not much). During this long procession, the boys were all carried on the backs of their loved ones while others kept the sun out of their eyes with gilden umbrellas. Gongs and drums beat out traditional Shan music as the sun rose higher in the sky.

After the procession we all headed inside the monastery to present our offerings. Many of the offerings were provided by the village council, who used the ordination fee to pay for donations and food for the festival. Everyone was invited to lunch and snack while listening to the chanting and dancing that still proceeded outside. The festivities dragged on as the day heated up and soon our companions were eager to rest.



The festivities carried on deep into the night. We were lucky enough to be staying across the street from the monastery and thus were continually awakened by the drumming and chanting over the loudspeaker and irregular intervals throughout the night.


Day 3

In the morning the boys were treated once again as royalty. This was a time of picture taking and merry making. After lunch the festivities dwindled as the ceremony began. This was a solemn time for the young boys and their parents. They boys ritually thanked their parents for all they have done for them. Many of the children and their loved ones were crying. This would ceremony was the last goodbye for many of the children who would not see their parents for weeks, months or even years. This is also a symbolic goodbye because after the children enter the monastery as monks they will be the children of the monastery and no longer the children of their parents. The parents then shaved the eyebrows of their children and then handed them their novice robes. Then monks and older novices helped the children into their robes. There was a lot of chanting and an older monk held a Buddhist service. Finally there was more picture taking and then the parents left the boys to learn about the Buddha.