It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I wrote that post and now I'm writing about the 2010 Festival. Time flies when your meticulously pinning ornamental garlic and chilies to a parade float and galavanting around in Thai costumes in the rain, smiling all the while. Actually, some of that makes the minutes go by pretty slow...
How incredible, the detail that goes into this festival--I think I noticed and appreciated in much more this year. Villagers literally work day and night to present amazingly displays of their local harvests, handicrafts, and specialties. My sub-district takes particular pride in their silk ( which comes entirely from the village--silk worms, looms, and finished products), crops of rice, garlic, chilies, and shallots,and last but not least, "Gwien Noi" which means small cart. Soon I'll have to dedicate a post to gwien noi because it's amazing what they do and how they do it. Below, you can see a picture of the large Gwien (or large cart) on the float. The gwien noi is a small prototype of the large cart that used to be one of the most important agricultural tools used for planting, harvesting, and transportation back in the day. Now that gwien's are outdated, the small prototype gwien noi's are ever so cherished and popular. They keep alive the memory of tradition and history in Thailand. For generations now people in my village have been carving and weaving gwien noi's. It's very much a local art that villagers are immensely proud of. You see, gwien noi's are not a common handicraft--though people recognize them throughout Thailand--it's a very painstaking and arduous task that originates from this particular village in Thailand. Sure it's not the only place gwien noi's are crafted but it's nevertheless, special to the people and they will tell you that the gwien noi's from this village are far superior to other's you will find. I sure am proud to know about and share in this tradition.
Anyways, yes, the festival. Well, it was great. Even though it rained. We also had the honoring of the dead/spirit world portion in which everyone makes up a bed in their home with all kind of fresh fruits and cooked rice, chicken, offerings, etc. I accompanied my neighbors and friends as they poured the wine and offered prayers and asked their ancestors to join in the feast of life. It's a rather beautiful display of reverence that takes place for about 2 days. In the spirit of the moment we did tip our glasses of ice-cold beer to the dead--it felt like the right thing to you. Here's to you, who have perished! Yes, and people got up at the crack of dawn again this year like they do every year to cackle and hoot their way to the temple to make a final merit with their ancestral offerings in toe.
I can't tell a lie, I got up at 4AM, all ready to go... only to fall asleep at 5:15AM and miss the whole activity. I blame it on not getting any sleep the night before...
Truth is, I felt less pressure and maybe a tad less enthusiasm to attend every activity this year. Not that the whole thing wasn't as fun as it was last year... okay parts of it were definitely more exiting last year since it was so novel and unfamiliar. It was almost like this year, I felt much more like a local ( sure, not so much when I was leading my entourage in the parade as 2,000 gawking onlookers hollered, smiled in awe, and took pictures.) But, as far as the activities in preparation and with my office and neighbors went, you might have had to look twice to tell their was a farang in the bunch.
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