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`Sukhwan maemarn' ritual (pregnancy): case illustration 3

The details of the pregnancy ritual are the same as for the rituals already
described: in the centre is a phakhwan; the officiant is the paahm; the
text is read, lustral water sprinkled on the celebrant, and the cord of
good fortune tied (fai mongkhon) by the paahm and the witnesses. The
ceremony is completed with a feast for the guests, who themselves usually
make small money contributions. The ritual, however, is an entity by
itself rather than a sequence in a larger ceremony, and is usually held
early in the morning around 8.00 a.m. on an auspicious day. The pregnant
woman is marked with a head ring made of thread, and a candle of the
head (thian wian hua) is lit to begin the ceremony; the symbolism of these
is the same as in the other rituals described (see Plate 4a).

The main differences between the pregnancy ritual and the sukhwan
at marriage and ordination is in the content of the text read and the status
of the supporting cast or `witnesses' who are present in the ceremony.
Both features symbolize something special about the occasion of the rite
and the position of the celebrant.

Let me illustrate the second point by referring to an actual sukhwan
maemarn that I witnessed. The ceremony was intended primarily for
a young woman called Jandaeng, who was experiencing her first pregnancy.
Her father and mother sponsored the ceremony for her—Jandaeng and
her husband were, like most young couples, living uxorilocally. Another
pregnant woman—Jandaeng's mother's younger sister (who had had other
children)—also took part in the ceremony. She and her husband contributed
a small portion of the expenses.

Both women's husbands were present at the ceremony; the only other
males present were Jandaeng's father and the officiant himself. The
ceremony was, apart from the males mentioned, essentially an affair of
elderly women. If we take Jandaeng as the point of reference, there were
two women of grandparental generation (Fa Mo Yo Br Wi and Mo Fa Yo
Br Wi) and five of mother's generation (Mo, Mo Ol Si, a distant affinal
relative, and two elderly neighbours) present as thaw gae (mediators/
witnesses/old persons). Two women, in this case the two neighbours, who

were said to be women of respect (nabthy), held the cord which passed
from the phakhwan to the celebrant. Two unmarried girls were also
present at the ceremony, but their role as helpers was entirely subsidiary.

Now, this pattern of participation of witnesses, essentially limited to
elderly women and husbands of the pregnant women, differs from the
supporting casts at marriage and ordination. This is obviously related to
the fact that this ceremony was being held to `cure the mind of a pregnant
woman' (pua caj maemarn). How the ritual defines the celebrant's state
of mind and what kind of therapy it attempts will become clearer when
we scrutinize the text that is recited.

The content of the texts read in each of the three ceremonies will be
discussed in turn. The texts themselves are printed as an appendix to
this chapter. All sukhwan recitations begin with a standard invitation or
invocation which immediately places the ritual under the umbrella of the
divine angels (thewada) and the Buddha. The opening sentences constitute
the invitation to thewada, a sequence called sagkhe, who are invited to
attend the ritual and make it auspicious. They are to act as witnesses to
the proceedings, in the same way as do the mortal elders. Immediately
after this are recited the Pali words used by all Buddhists in worship,
meaning: `We worship the Blessed One, Arahat, Supreme Lord Buddha.'
We note the point (for subsequent comment) that the Buddha here follows
the thewada; it is the latter who are the benevolent mediators and the
conferrers of blessings. On the one hand, the ritual is more a concern of
lesser deities than of the inaccessible Buddha; yet it is clear, on the other
hand, that the ritual is performed by persons who identify themselves as
Buddhists.