Thailand 2011: One Weird Saturday

This past Saturday our dance instructor (Ajan Waewdao) took those of us from the dance class to see the spirit dances (or ghost dances) in a village near Lampang, about a hour from Chiang Mai. On they way, we stopped to pick up a bite to eat – crickets, grasshoppers, and BBQ’ed chicken intestines (and 3 scoops of ice cream for 20 Baht = 60 cents). I don’t think we’ll ever run out of fun foods in Thailand. The dancers are not your ordinary people off the streets. They are identified mediums for spirits. The spirit dances conger up the spirits that the mediums represent and the dancers enter a trance (or become possessed by their spirits). We spent a couple of hours watching the mediums “enter” their trance state and dance. This is Thai animism at its best. The live band was as interesting as the spirit dancers. All of this took place in a medium’s yard under a bamboo canopy. The mediums from the Chiang Mai and Lampang area take turn hosting the spirit dances. White farangs (foreigners) - especially those with cameras - are welcomed by the medium, so we weren't at the spirit dances for very long before we were invited to the floor to dance to join those entranced by their spirits.

I've attached a video of a woman going into a trance by rotating her body around a rope that hangs from the bamboo canopy. As she spins, the bamboo canopy shifts back and forth making the sun spots on the red floor dance around. It was very disorienting at times. Once she is in a trance, her helper dresses her in appropriate garb for a medium. All mediums in a trance wear a red scarf around their heads or a colored scarf of the spirits choosing.