Wat Bang Phra - The Magic Tattoo Festival

Thais from all over the country come to pay respect to their "teacher", Luang Poh Pern, and also to have their magical tattoos recharged. Many of you might have seen footage of this event on the Discovery Channel, it is quite moving. I decided to go when my friend Jordan from Los Angeles mentioned his mutual love for tattoos. We both decided to meet each other there that Saturday morning at the end of the 124 bus station line. Well, little did I know that we were idiots for planning a strategic meeting point through transportation in a country like Thailand. I never found Jordan but I did end up meeting a friendly young Thai man named Is who took me under his wing during the festival and practically showed me every nook and cranny this joyous festival had to offer its devotees. He didn't speak English too well but I spoke every bit of Thai I had learned up until that point, which had only been about two months, but we seemed to understand each other pretty well.
The ceremony started around 9 am with over a thousand Thai people present. Many of them were sitting on the ground facing the shrine for Luang Poh Pern. Others were making offerings. As I waited around not knowing what to expect next, I heard the first howl of rage, echoeing in the distance. Some of the devotees, in a deep trance had been taken over by the animals tattooed onto their bodies. Sometimes a monkey. Sometimes a tiger. If they were a tiger they would roar and clench their fingers like claws. If they were a snake they would crawl on the ground. Some were calmed by their friends rubbed their ears. Others gave a loud growl, startling everyone sitting quietly around them, and then go charging towards the shrine at the front of the parade ground. At the shrine there was a line of soldiers and volunteers waiting to catch hold of them.

All I could do was gawk at the sight of something so foreign to me. I remember reaching for my camera trying to capture this intense spiritual passage taking place before me without getting caught in the claws of these animals.
...But it was impossible.



Devotees to the Thai Buddhist temple Wat Bang Phra work themselfs into a trancelike state during a religious festival Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, in Nakhon Chaisi, Thailand. Thais come from all over Thailand to be tattooed by the temple's monks on their bodies being inked by hand using a long metal stylus. The religious tattoos are believed to be protection from ghost and bad spirits.



Holy water is sprayed among the crowd of devotees during the religious festival taking place at Wat Bang Phra on February 27, 2010 in Nakhon Chaisi, Thailand. As a sense of cleansing the soul, people stand in line to take bottles of the sacred water home with them.



Pid-Thong, a gold leaf, is placed on the Buddha statue after prayer and offerings are given. The pid-thong is placed on the statue to receive luck and wealth in return.



A temple monk tattoos the body of devotee to Thai temple Wat Bang Phra using a long metal stylus during the religious festival Saturday, February 27, 2010 in Nakhon Chaisi, Thailand. The religious tattoos are believed to be protection from ghost and bad spirits.


To view more photographs from The Magic Tattoo Festival at Wat Bangphra, visit the album!