University of Virginia Library

16
MYTH AND RITE: THE `NAGA' SYMBOL
AND THE ROCKET FESTIVAL

In the previous chapter I described the beliefs and rites associated with
the two guardian spirits of the village, and indicated how they link up
with the regional cult pertaining to the guardian of the Byng Chuan
swamp. This in turn led us to consider the place and significance of
natural phenomena such as swamps and rivers in the life, thought, and
religious system of villagers.

I shall now explore this question further by describing and analysing
the festival called Bunbangfai, which is concerned with soliciting rain
before the annual paddy agricultural cycle starts and is addressed to the
spirit of the swamp and the village guardians. Following this I shall
document and analyse a myth which in the minds of the villagers is
linked with the Bunbangfai festival. The myth has two facets: it relates
the story of the origin of swamps and rivers, and it deals with the question
of the relation between man and beast, between society and nature, thereby
providing a moral and theological basis for the cult of guardian spirits.

In the concluding section of this chapter two linked issues are taken
up. One is the relation between Buddhist ritual and the cult of the
guardian spirits, and the second the relation between myth and rite. These
relationships are elucidated by comparing the grand Buddhist festival of
Bun Phraawes with the rain-making festival of Bunbangfai. Both festivals
are composed of myths and rites, the reciprocal relationship between
which constitutes a classical problem in anthropology.

Before I describe the festival of Bunbangfai it is well to bear in mind the
data covered so far. I have indicated some of the ways in which Buddhist
rites are kept separate from the cult of the phii. I have also demonstrated
that there are certain links between Buddhism and the village guardians.
Chao Phau Phraa Khao is regarded as a pious Buddhist who guards the
wat; both he and Tapubaan, the guardian of the village, are enforcers
of rules concerning the Buddhist Sabbath. The distinction between
Buddhism and the phii cult is most marked at the level of ritual behaviour;
monks do not participate in the biannual collective agricultural rites
addressed to the guardian spirits, nor are they concerned with the healing
of afflictions caused by phii which act as moral punishing agents or as

capricious malevolent forces. Category opposition is conspicuous in
regard to religious office: the monk, subject to an ascetic regimen and
rigorous self-control, stands opposed to the ritual officiants of guardian
spirits, the tiam and cham, who are recruited not because of their moral
worth but arbitrarily through possession by the spirits. They do not
practise the disciplined life of the pious layman (upasok), and their ritual
techniques are ecstatic. The contrast reaches its extreme formulation in
the association of mediumship with females.

These comparisons, however, are not the end of the story, as we shall
see from events enacted in the festival.

THE FESTIVAL OF `BUNBANGFAI'

Bunbangfai means literally the `merit of (firing) rockets'. The rockets in
question are made locally in the village by packing `black powder' (nitre)
into bamboo sections, which are then reinforced with rope. A `tail' is
attached to the rocket which is ignited by lighting a wick. Each rocket is
decorated gaily with ribbons and streamers. The rockets go up a fair
distance and the mark of good craftsmanship is their straight upward
trajectory.

Bunbangfai is a ceremony of regional importance, and is directly
associated with the guardian spirit of the Byng Chuan swamp and the
guardian spirits of the village. The rocket ceremony, it is said, is addressed
to the powerful guardian spirit of the swamp, Chao Phau Tong Khyang
(or Tapu Byng); it is performed to pay him respect, and to request him
to confer prosperity and good health and to send rain (`tham haj ju dii mii
haeng, kho fa kho fon'). It is in fact primarily a rain-making ritual; if the
ceremony is not performed the swamp guardian spirit will be angry, rains
may not fall, and he may withdraw his protection so that both villagers
and their buffaloes will fall ill.

But unlike the propitiations to the guardian spirits before ploughing
and after harvesting, which are conducted both at a regional level in the
swamp shrine and in each village at the Tapubaan shrine (which I have
described earlier), the rocket-firing ritual is conducted by each village
separately. It is not merely a propitiation but is also a festival whose
proceedings take three days. It is comparable with the Buddhist Bun
Phraawes festival, which is conducted by each village separately as a post-harvest
thanks-offering (Chapter 10); in fact these two festivals are, as
we shall see, linked in a complementary fashion.

In Baan Phraan Muan, as in other villages, the ceremony is addressed
both to the guardian spirit of the swamp and to the two guardian deities

of the village (Tapubaan and Chao Phau Phraa Khao). I have already
expounded the logic by which the villagers sometimes merge the two
village guardians—of the wat and of the village—in the single concept of
Tapubaan, and the latter in turn with Tapu Byng, the guardian of the
swamp. Thus in each village it is the Buddhist temple (wat) and the
Tapubaan shrine (hau tapu) which are the foci for the rites. The bringing
together of the temple and the spirit shrine in a ritual sense is paralleled
by a spatial link between them. In many villages of the region the
Tapubaan shrine stands in the compound of the Buddhist temple, often
a few yards from the bood (or viharn). The shrine is simple, small, crudely
made of wood, and faces the village and thereby guards it; the bood in
contrast is the most imposing and magnificent piece of stone architecture
in the village, and faces east. What values are expressed in this juxtaposition,
which is at the same time a startling comparison? Traditionally, the
temple and the spirit shrine belonged together, like the vihare and the
devale in Buddhist Ceylon. Nowadays, some villages, Baan Phraan Muan
among them, have separated them, possibly under ecclesiastical pressure,
and have placed the shrine at the back of the wat compound.

One of the problems that the festival of rocket-firing poses is the pattern
of the complex integration of Buddhism and the guardian spirit cult in
the same ritual. There are two major sequences to the festival: first, monks
are ordained, and in some years a monk `promotion' ceremony is also
held at the same time (see Chapter 7); following this Buddhist sequence
is the ecstatic procession, the paying of respect to Tapubaan, and the
firing of the rockets. Superficially it looks as if the `opposed' sequences
have been tacked on together; yet the situation is not as simple as this
because the role of the monks themselves in the festival is complex—they
take part in some sequences and segregate themselves from others. This
fascinating festival has puzzled some observers. For instance, one writer
(Faure in Berval 1959) has called the festival, witnessed in Vientiane the
capital of Laos,

Although the festival performed in the village is not as grand as that
staged in the capital of Laos, its structure and pattern are revealed more
clearly in the village performance. Faure makes the oft-repeated mistake
of identifying only Buddhist rites as `religious' and the ritual sequences
directed to fertility and fecundity as `profane' because of their `excessiveness'.
Nor is it valid to describe the festival as `dichotomous', if by this
word is meant the tacking together of incompatible parts. I shall argue,
and such an argument is a central thesis of this book, that the festival
portrays a `necessary' linkage between Buddhism and the guardian spirit
cult and that it highlights how the two ritual complexes relate to one
another in a logical and orderly fashion. Before describing the sequences
of the rocket-firing festival as staged in the village it is necessary to comment
on two problems, one relating to the timing of the festival and the other
to its name, especially the prefix bun.

At the regional cult centre of village Napu it was reported that the
festivities were held every year in the middle of the 6th lunar month
(dyan hog peng) from the 14th to the 16th, with the 15th being the crucial
day. This coincides with the full moon of May. Faure (ibid.) reports that
in Vientiane the festival takes place on the 15th day of the waxing moon
of the 6th month. According to the Buddhist calendar this is the day of
Visakha Bucha, the day on which the Buddha was born, the day on which
he achieved nirvana, and the day he died. Because of this synchronization
of Visakha and the rocket festival, it can be argued that the first part of
the festival centring on ordination and promotion of monks is the Buddhist
part, for it is an appropriate day for glorifying the Buddha and his doctrine.

But this association does not appear to hold for Baan Phraan Muan,
where the date on which the rocket festival is held varies according to
the exigencies of the agricultural cycle. It is held at any time between the
6th and 8th lunar months, in theory on the 15th day of the waxing moon,
but in fact on any convenient day in the waxing period. (In 1966, for
instance, the rocket-firing was on the 11th day.) There is no recognition
in the village that the ceremony is in any way associated with Visakha,
which occasion we have seen is not important for the village calendar of
temple festivals (Chapter 10). The chief consideration for the villagers
in choosing the day is the calculation of when rains will fall so that the
rice agricultural cycle can begin.

However, the name of the festival, Bunbangfai, poses a linguistic puzzle;
it has the Buddhist concept of merit, bun, as its prefix. Villagers, applying

their usual category distinctions which separate Buddhism from the
cults relating to phii spirits, are explicit that `Bunbangfai has nothing to
do with Buddhist monks; it is not related to Buddhism; it is a matter
concerning phii'. We shall, however, see that the monks are both involved
and not involved in curious ways, and that what the villagers are saying
is that Bunbangfai is not a Buddhist festival at which monks officiate, not
that there is no link with Buddhism whatsoever. Furthermore, we have
seen that the Buddhist festival of Bun Phraawes which precedes Bunbangfai
is also to some extent concerned with rains and agricultural prosperity.
Indeed, there are some fascinating links between the two ritual complexes
which we must explore and illuminate.

`BUNBANGFAI' IN BAAN PHRAAN MUAN

Some days before the festival, preparations are made for the making of
the rockets. Money is collected from every householder in the village for
buying `black powder'. The amount collected depends on how many
rockets are to be made, and this is governed, as we shall see shortly, by
another important consideration. A point to note is that the rockets are
made in the wat by monks and villagers. The participation of monks in
rocket-making is a general feature in all villages, and indeed monks are
considered the experts at this craft. The rockets are then stored in the wat.

There are two rockets—one called bang tawai (rocket for paying respect)
and the other bang siang (wishing rocket), both intended for Tapubaan
the village guardian—which are made every year and are necessary ritual
articles. In addition other rockets are made, the number depending on
the scale of the festival. The scale of the ceremony varies according to
the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event which critically relates
Bunbangfai to Buddhism, namely ordination of novices and monks, which
is ideally the first phase of the proceedings. If the rocket-firing is to be
immediately preceded by the ordination of Buddhist novices and monks,
then it is characterized by the making of a large number of rockets (about
ten to twelve), with the two ritually important rockets being especially
large, and the holding of a village fair at night with much merriment and
drinking. In the absence of ordination only two small rockets are made
and there is no fair. Since it is only in exceptional years that no ordination
takes place, my description will be that of a normal festival.

The festival divides into three sequences: ordination (and promotion)
of monks (bun buad), the rocket procession (hae bangfai), and the firing of
the rockets.

In the following discussion I shall describe mainly the festival staged

in 1964. (In the appendix to this chapter, I describe briefly the highlights
of the same ceremony performed in the village of Napu, the cult centre
for the region.)

Ordination

In 1964 in the evening of the 11th day of the 8th lunar month, three
novices were ordained at the beginning of the festivities. This ordination
was sponsored by the entire village. On the previous day, called wan hoam
(the day of collecting), the ritual articles necessary for the ordination
were brought to the wat by the villagers, and the sukhwan nag ceremony
(calling the spirit essence of the ordinands) was held by the elders in the
afternoon; after ordination on the following day the resident monks chanted
suad mongkhon that night. These sequences the reader will recognize as
the usual ones connected with ordination. Hence the question arises, what
is the relation between this special ordination associated with Bunbangfai
and the annual ordination of village youth before the Lent season? The
answer is that a varying proportion of the youth, sometimes all the
candidates, ordained in a particular year are ordained on this occasion.[1]
Thus it is clear that the timing of ordination with Bunbangfai, which is
explicitly recognized as a rain-making ritual, has very important implications
for our understanding of how the institution of monkhood is
related and adapted to village interests.

How is ordination, which is strictly a Buddhist institution, related to
the propitiation of the guardian spirits of the swamp and village? As I have
already reported, villagers who are explicit that `Bunbangfai' has nothing
to do with Buddhist monks (an important `first response' to the anthropologist's
question) explain that the word bun (merit) appears in the
name of the ceremony because novices and monks are ordained in order
to make merit for and to transfer merit to the guardian spirits. Transference
of merit by the living to ancestors and by humans to deities and spirits
is, we have seen already, an important reciprocity mechanism in Buddhist
religious action.

Even more significant for the issue under discussion is the monk promotion
ceremony conducted on the same day, which, although exceptional
in occurrence, is nevertheless very telling. I refer the reader to the details
of the water-pouring ceremony, by which a monk is elevated to Somdet
(described in Chapter 7). Monks and villagers pour water into a wooden
receptacle in the form of a snake (Naga) and the water flows through the
head and throat on to the monk's head and body. When the promotion

ceremony does occur, it is often conducted together with the ordination
rites preceding the Bunbangfai festival. It is clear that in this ceremony
the Naga is seen as a friend and guardian of Buddhism; at the same time,
since he is associated with rain and fertility, the ceremony connotes the
sacred Naga enhancing and cleansing the monk who is being honoured.
Since this drama is staged at a rain-invoking festival we are justified in
asserting the equation: just as the Naga pours water on the monk to
increase his sacredness, so may rain fall on the fields and increase their
agricultural fertility. But note the paradox: in the case of the monk it is
his non-sexual sacredness that is increased; in the case of the layman their
material prosperity and fertility. The resolution of the paradox is the one
I have argued previously. The monk is a mediator and vehicle, and it is
precisely his access to sacred life-renouncing power that is transformed
and transferred into life-giving powers for the layman. What is of interest
to us in the ceremony is that it is the Naga that acts as the vehicle for
transferring sacredness.

`Hae bangfai' (the rocket procession)

The rocket procession constitutes the second phase of the Bunbangfai
festivities. In 1964 it was held in the afternoon of the day following the
ordination (i.e. on the afternoon of the 12th day of the 8th lunar month).

The procession was formed with the tiam (medium), dressed in his
clothes of office (red shirt and blouse and handkerchief tied on the head),
the cham (intermediary) with kanha (offering of flowers and candles), and
his assistant at the head. These ritual officiants of the guardian spirit cult
danced as they led the procession. They were followed by the village
elders, carrying the rockets which had been placed in a crudely constructed
palanquin. It was said that all those villagers who had previously been
cured by one of the guardian spirits also danced, because Tapubaan or
Chau Phau was acting upon them. According to the theory, during the
procession possession is experienced both by Tapubaan's officiants and
those he has cured (the latter of whom may be described as the `community
of sufferers', to borrow a phrase from Victor Turner). In fact, all
participants drank great quantities of liquor and their behaviour was
dionysiac and uninhibited, this contrasting sharply with the processions
in Buddhist festivals.

An important feature to note is that monks did not take part in this
procession, even though it formed in the wat compound. After leaving the
compound, it wove in and out of the village settlement, and then made
its way to the Tapubaan shrine. It circumambulated the shrine three
times, and then the intermediary with offering in hand addressed a prayer to

the guardian spirit, saying: `Please give rain, good health and prosperity,
and prevent our oxen, buffaloes, pigs, ducks and chickens from falling
sick.' The rockets were dedicated, and the rocket named bang tawai
(rocket of offering) was fired. The procession then returned to the wat
and circumambulated the sala (preaching hall) three times; the remaining
rockets were taken into the sala and stored for the night.

That night the fair was staged in the wat compound. Before the entertainment
started, the monks chanted suad mongkhon bangfai (blessing
chant on behalf of the rockets) in the sala. Thus we note that here the
monks participated for the first time in the proceedings connected with
rockets: they did not participate in the propitiation of the village guardian,
but they now chanted Buddhist sacred words of blessing, thereby supplementing
and reinforcing the proceedings in the Buddhist mode. Once
again the Buddhist sequence is separated from the guardian cult propitiation;
yet they are complementary and supplementary.

The entertainment at the fair consisted, as in most village fairs, of
ramwong (dancing), maulum (folk opera), and, as in recent years, a film
show. A fair of this proportion is held only when the Bunbangfai is
accompanied by ordination of monks and novices, and it is marked by
the dedication of a large number of rockets to Tapubaan.

The firing of the rockets

On the following morning the rocket-firing festivities took place. First
of all the monks were feasted at the wat by the villagers in order to make
merit, and then all the remaining rockets were carried to a launching
site near the fields.

Next followed what is ritually the most important sequence—the firing
of the wishing rocket (bang siang), which actually will foretell the outcome
of the wishes made to Tapubaan. If the rocket flies straight and high the
omens are auspicious. The intermediary (cham) first addressed the guardian
spirit thus: `If there is to be prosperity, health and rain, let the rocket
rise high, if there is not to be prosperity...let the rocket fail.' Then the
rocket was fired; its trajectory was declared to be auspicious.

There is some looseness of interpretation by the villagers concerning
the symbolism of the two rockets thus far ignited, the first on the previous
evening and the second just described. Some informants held that the
rocket of offering (bang tawai) is also a wishing rocket and that it represents
the wish for rain, while the rocket fired the next morning expresses the
wish for the good health and prosperity of the villagers and their buffaloes.
It would seem that this interpretation would act as an insurance against
the possible failure of using a single rocket as a prophesying agent. Since

the chances are that both rockets will not fail, the prophecy can be manipulated
in favour of the villagers.

The firing of the second rocket gave way to proceedings whose character
can only be described as ritual licence. Virtually the entire village congregated,
including the monks and novices. The remaining rockets were fired
in a spirit of competition. If a rocket either failed to take off or did not
go high, the unsuccessful firer was subjected to mud-throwing. This
punishment was meted to everyone without distinction, including monks
and village elders (phuu thaw), both of whom participated in the firing. Thus
it is clear that the ritual licence allowed dissolves the two most important
hierarchical statuses in the village—the Buddhist monk, who normally is
highly respected and socially distinct, and the lay elder, who by virtue
of his generational superiority and headship of the compound clusters is
respected, wields a certain amount of authority, and occupies a position
of leadership in the village. Bunbangfai represents the one occasion in
village life when such extreme privileged joking is allowed. During
Songkran (New Year) festivities a certain amount of licence is allowed.
Young people throw water on everyone indiscriminately. Throwing mud
is, however, a more disrespectful and insolent act in normal circumstances.

The ritual licence is regarded as `fun'. Games were played, cockfighting
was staged, as well as `buffalo fighting' with young men impersonating
the bulls. Young men devised ways of extracting money from the spectators
for buying liquor. One such is to carry around to houses an evil-smelling
vulture tied to a rope; money was given quickly to get rid of the odour.

Let me recapitulate and summarize what seem to constitute the dominant
features of Bunbangfai. It is a cult addressed to the guardian spirits,
who are invested with power to grant rain and good health to the village.
As such they are concerned with basic and vital interests. In propitiating
them the villagers see them as elevated deities, not malevolent spirits.
They are approached as children approach a powerful father figure who
grants his favours as a result of wishes expressed in the right manner.
The approach has, however, an element of bargaining, characteristic of
the approach made to them for the cure of illness and in the biannual
agricultural rites, analysed earlier. Thus for instance in 1965 the village
ritual was made on a relatively minor scale, but at the ceremony a promise
was made that if there was copious rainfall the villagers would make bigger
rockets the following year.

In so far as monks do not participate in the procession to the shrine
nor in the propitiation, the guardian cult is segregated from Buddhist
rituals such as Bun Phraawes. Bunbangfai, nevertheless, has important
links with Buddhism which are woven into the texture of the festivities

while certain category distinctions are kept clear. The monks help in the
making of the rockets, which are stored in the wat. In the first sequence
of the festival monks and novices are ordained in a strictly Buddhist
ceremonial; but at the same time, one of the chief purposes of the ordination
is to transfer merit to the guardian deities. And also connected with the
ordination is the occasional monk elevation ceremony.

The propitiation of Tapubaan and the firing of the wishing rockets are,
however, among the sequences in which Buddhist monks do not participate.
These sequences express the category opposition between Buddhism and
the guardian spirit cult, for no Buddhist monk can worship or propitiate
a spirit. But we note at the same time in a separate sequence, after the
rocket procession is over, the monks on that same night chant suad
mongkhon on behalf of the success of the rockets. Here the Buddhist
sequence is supplementary and reinforces the wishes of the villagers for
rain and fertility. At the same time that the villagers propitiate Tapubaan
for rain and fertility they are also making merit in the Buddhist way to
double their chances of success. The essential requirement is that monks
should not propitiate Tapubaan, whereas the villagers can have two strings
to their bow—they can practise Buddhism and also propitiate the guardian
deities.

The structure of the Bunbangfai festival shows an arrangement whereby
the Buddhist sequences in which monks participate are kept separate
from those in which the officiants of the spirit cult participate, and order
is obtained by fusing the sequences without confusing them. Only in the
final sequences are all distinctions of social and religious hierarchy
temporarily dissolved in ritual licence, as a prelude to beginning a new
agricultural and religious cycle.

Having described the Bunbangfai festival, I shall now proceed to
consider two versions of the myth associated with it.

THE MYTH OF PHADAENG AND NANG AI

Version 1 (related by Phau Nu, a village elder)

Thao Pangkee was once upon a time the `hired child' (luug chang) or
servant of a rich couple who in due course gave their daughter Nang Ai in
marriage to him. One day Pangkee and his wife went into the forest and
there found a wild fig tree (ton mai ma deua) bearing fruits. Pangkee asked
his wife to climb the tree to pick fruits, which she did, but when she
descended she found her husband missing. She searched for him without
success, and in the course of the search she came to a river. She then

vowed by the bank of the river that in her next life she would not meet
a husband like Pangkee, who had deserted her. After their deaths Pangkee
was born the son of a Naga ruler[2] named Sirisutho, and Nang Ai was
born the daughter of Phaya Korm, the ruler of Naung Haan.

Thao Phadaeng, the ruler of a city called Pha Pong, courted Nang Ai
and they became lovers. Nang Ai's father, Phaya Korm,[3] proclaimed his
intention to hold the rocket festival called Bunbangfai, and Phadaeng and
Phaya Chieng Han, another ruler, decided to compete in it. Pangkee, the
Naga prince, also heard the news about the rocket festival and since he
had heard about Nang Ai's beauty he wanted very much to see her. So he
transformed himself into a human being and attended the festival but
he failed to see Nang Ai. The winner of the rocket competition was
Phaya Chieng Han; Phadaeng's rocket failed to take off.

Pangkee returned to the Naga city, but he still yearned to see Nang Ai.
So he solicited permission from his parents to go up again to the human
world. They agreed, unwillingly, and sent their Naga army to accompany
him. When they emerged from the water, Pangkee took the form of
a white squirrel (gahog daun) and jumped from tree to tree. The accompanying
Naga soldiers transformed themselves into birds and followed him.

Nang Ai, in her palace at this time, felt uneasy and fretful (mai pen sug).
She felt she did not want to stay inside, so she went and sat outside in
the garden. There she saw the squirrel at the foot of a tree; it was a beautiful
animal with golden bells round its neck and a melodious voice. She wanted
to possess it and asked her maids and pages to catch it, but they were
unsuccessful. She thereupon sent for a hunter who had a cross-bow
(na seeng). The hunter said that it was not possible for him to catch the
squirrel alive but that he could kill it. Nang Ai agreed, and the hunter
shot the squirrel. Before it died, it said farewell to its Naga parents.
Phra In[4] came down from heaven and daubed the squirrel's body with
perfume (kreuang haum).

The meat of the squirrel filled 8,000 wagons and was distributed to all
the citizens except old widows, because they did not help in the work (mai
chuay gnaan). The hunter was given a leg and he too distributed the meat
to several others.

The Naga army returned to their city bearing the sad news to Pangkee's
parents. The parents became very wrathful and, leading their army,
burrowed underground, churned up the mud and attacked the human
settlements, which sank into the ground. This is how Naung Huan and
Byng Chuan became large swamps.

Meanwhile Phadaeng, who had been away during the killing of the
squirrel, had come to visit his sweetheart, Nang Ai, but his journey was
obstructed by logs on the ground. (These logs were the naga who had
thus transformed themselves.) When he met Nang Ai he inquired what
building was going to be constructed, since he had seen so many logs.
Nang Ai told him about the killing of the squirrel. She then set out food
for him, but he did not eat the meat because it was so sweet-smelling.
He asked Nang Ai `Why did you eat this meat? Are you not afraid that
the city will sink?' They went to sleep, but before dawn they heard the
noise of the earth cracking (pandin lun). Phadaeng fled with Nang Ai on
horseback, and they took with them the regalia of the city (prachum myang),
namely the gong (kong), the drum (glong), and the ring (waen).

The horse found galloping heavy going because of the mud, so the
riders threw away the gong, and the place where it fell was called Baan
Nam Kong; next they threw away the drum, and the place where it fell
was called Baan Naung Glong. Finally the ring was thrown away, and the
place where it fell became Baan Non Waen. Phaya Naga kept pursuing
them, caught up with them, lashed out with his tail and swept Nang Ai
from horseback. Phadaeng alone escaped.

Version 2 (related by Phau Champi, village elder and leader)

There was a ruler of a city called Myang Naung Haan and his name was
Phraya Korm.[5] He had a daughter called Nang Ai and she was exceedingly
beautiful.

Phraya Korm decided to hold a rocket-firing competition in the sixth
lunar month (dyan hog peng), and ordered his subjects to make the necessary
preparations. Phadaeng, who lived in Myang Pong (and who was in love
with Nang Ai and she with him), made a rocket in order to participate;
so did Phraya Siang Hian, the ruler of the city of Siang Hian Fa Daed.
Phraya Korm also decided to be a competitor, and offered the wager
that the person whose rocket went up highest would be the winner and
would be awarded his daughter, Nang Ai; if his own went highest, Nang Ai
would not be awarded to anyone.

On the day of the competition, Thao Pangkee, the son of the Naga
ruler, came up (from his subterranean residence) to witness the competition
and he saw Princess Nang Ai and fell in love with her. Pangkee and Nang
Ai were in a previous life husband and wife, but Pangkee had not been
attentive to her (mai liow lae) and so they had separated. In this life in
turn Nang Ai did not pay any attention to Pangkee.

The results of the rocket-firing were as follows: Phraya Korm's rocket

exploded and did not go up; neither did Phadaeng's. Siang Hian was the
winner but since he was already married he did not take Nang Ai. Both
Phraya Korm and Phadaeng were depressed by the failure of their rockets, for
this was a bad omen and they feared that their subjects would not enjoy
prosperity and good health.

Pangkee, the Naga prince, still in love with Nang Ai, took the disguise
of a white squirrel (gahog daun), wearing a collar with a bell attached.
He was most beautiful to behold. He climbed up to the top of a tree.
Birds crowded round him because of his beauty. Princess Nang Ai saw
the squirrel and wanted very much to have it. A hunter was called to
shoot the squirrel, and he shot it. The squirrel fell down from the tree
and as it lay dying said in its last gasp to Nang Ai: `Why do you want to
eat the white squirrel's meat? Are you not afraid that the kingdom will
sink into the ground?'[6]

Phraya Korm and Phadaeng, and all the people, also heard the squirrel's
last words. When the people cut up the squirrel, its meat filled 8,000 carts.
All came to take away the meat except an old widow (mae mai) who was
late in coming. Phadaeng was surprised and apprehensive about the
squirrel's words, so he ordered Nang Ai to go away with him on a horse,
whose name was Bak Saam. He told her to bring with her the `good things'
(khong dee dee)[7] of the city, namely ring (waen), gong (kong), and drum
(glong). They sped on horseback towards Phadaeng's town of Pha Pong.

Soon after they set out, the earth behind them cracked and sank down.
Phraya Korm's town was submerged and became the swamp Naung
Haan. The island in the middle of the swamp was the house of the old
widow who did not eat the meat. The hill is called noon mae mai. The
citizens who lived where the swamp Byng Chuan now stands, when they
heard about the squirrel meat, tried to persuade (chuan) one another to
go and take a share. While they were doing so, their town sank and became
the swamp Byng Chuan. The people of another town doubted (sang)[8] as
to whether they should or should not go to take some meat: their town
sank and became the swamp Byng Sang.

Things happened to Phadaeng and Nang Ai as they were fleeing. After
some distance the horse, Bak Saam, became very tired and fell down and
died. This place was called Huay (tributary) Saam Paad. Phadaeng and
Nang Ai then started to walk, carrying the regalia with them. Because they
were heavy, Phadaeng asked Nang Ai to throw away the ring (waen), the

gong (kong) and the drum (glong): the place where the ring fell was called
swamp Naung Waen, and where the gong and drum fell Huay (tributary)
Nam Kong Glong Si. All these geographical features are in Kumpawapi
District, Udorn province.

ANALYSIS OF THE MYTH

I have presented the myth as related to me by two Phraan Muan village
informants. The myth is well known throughout the entire North-east,
and while there are variations of detail as told in different parts of the
North-east, the main plot and structure of the myth remain the same.

The myth has two associations for the villagers of this region. It tells
of the origin of the various swamps and rivers in the region. Clearly one
of the concerns of the myth is to relate the origin and naming of these
ecological phenomena which are of such vital interest to villagers living
in a dry land. The swamps, for instance, connote perennial water and
symbolize rain. In different regions of the North-east the geographical
details of the story, such as the names of rivers, swamps and lakes, are
changed to correspond to the phenomena of the local region. In presenting
the `social geography' of the region, the myth serves to give a sense of
regional identity to the people, as well as a sense of history in that in the
mythical past their territories were parts of kingdoms whose capitals were
cities, like Sakorn Nakorn, which still exist today.

The villagers view the myth as also related to the origin of the rocket
festival (Bunbangfai). The myth itself includes a rocket-firing competition,
and villagers, after relating the myth, are apt to say, `This is why we fire
the rockets', referring to the competition. The anthropologist, however,
notes that the Bunbangfai rite has no direct relation to the details of the
myth; it is not a simple reflection of the myth.

Apart from these conscious associations, the observer senses an underlying
theme, ostensibly presented as a conflict between man and the
dragon of the water, but in fact stating a complex relationship between
man and nature. This will emerge as the details of the myth are analysed.
Since the two versions of the myth agree on essentials, I shall treat them
together.

The myth is constructed around a triangular contest. Pangkee, the
son of the Naga (embodiment of water and the underworld), is opposed
to and in competition with the male human protagonist, Phadaeng (who
is a ruler of human beings), for a prize represented by a female character,
Princess Nang Ai.

The relationship between the three figures is a balanced opposition.

In a previous life, Pangkee and Nang Ai were husband and wife, but

Pangkee was a bad husband and abandoned Nang Ai. In the later life
Pangkee falls in love with Nang Ai but she rejects him, and by virtue of
her vow is bound to destroy him. We note that in the previous life, Pangkee
deserted Nang Ai while she was up a tree picking figs; in the later life
Pangkee himself was shot, at Nang Ai's instigation, while he in turn
was up a tree.

The relationship between Phadaeng and Nang Ai also carries an element
of stalemate. While the two return each other's love, Phadaeng fails to
win her legitimately when he loses the rocket competition. It is the losing
of this competition by Phadaeng and also by Nang Ai's father through
the failure of their rockets, which signifies impending disaster and leads
to the next stage of the drama. On Pangkee's side, his persistent and
unrequited love for Nang Ai also serves as the catalyst for the movement
of the plot.

The myth reaches its climax when Pangkee, a creature of the underworld,
takes the form of an attractive trickster, a white squirrel, an arboreal
creature. He is killed and his meat, which is inexhaustible, is eaten by
all the people except old widows and the hero Phadaeng. The manifest
meaning of the story is that the killing and eating of the squirrel results
in the disappearance of human settlements and their transformation into
swamps. I would suggest that the latent meaning is that the eating of the
meat represents the union of man and nature. The swamps and lakes
containing perennial water are the product of this union. They contain
portions of the Naga prince eaten by human beings; his dismemberment
also accounts for his multiple presence in individual swamps. The swamps
in turn represent ancient submerged human settlements. Thus, while
the plot of the myth overtly predicates an antagonism between man and
nature, the underlying message is the resolution of the relationship between
them in terms of fertile union and sharing of common properties. It is
relevant to note that old widows, being barren and useless, were excluded,
and escaped the disaster because they did not eat the meat.

The same message comes through in the last part of the myth which
describes the attempted escape of Phadaeng and Nang Ai on horseback.
Whereas earlier the dismembered portions of the flesh of the Naga are
seen as acting upon human beings and their settlements, in this sequence
it is the cultural products of human beings and their symbols of ordered
society—the regalia—which are seen as acting upon nature to produce
(or to name, which is the same thing) swamps and tributaries. The significant
aspect of the attempted escape is not the uncertain survival of the
human actors but that they abandoned the regalia and the horse. The overt
meaning is that nature captured those emblems which validate and make

possible ordered society. The latent meaning is that the swamps and
rivers are the repositories of ancient regalia that give legitimacy to human
settlements. Thus, while one level of meaning represents again the opposition
between nature and society, and the futility of this conflict for
nature is stronger, at another level it is resolved by the implication that
the natural phenomena which contain the regalia validate the human
settlements around them because of this possession.

In brief, while the sinking of human settlements as a result of humans
having eaten Naga meat represents naturalization of human society, the
incorporation of human cultural products by nature represents the
humanization of nature. It is this balanced equation that the myths
portray.

We are now ready to tackle two problems concurrently. The ethnographic
problem is the relationship between Buddhist ritual and the
cult of the guardian spirits. I propose to consider it by comparing the
grand Buddhist festival of Bun Phraawes and the myths concerning
Uppakrut who figures in that festival (described in Chapter 10) with the
rain-making festival of Bunbangfai and its related myth. From this ethnographic
discussion we can abstract a formal problem which is of theoretical
interest to anthropology, namely the relation between myth and rite.

Fig. 4 Diagram showing the relationship between two festivals

The arrows in the diagram indicate the relationships we have to examine
in order to arrive at answers to the two problems set out above. The
relevant ethnography has already been presented and therefore has only
to be brought into focus here. We have at hand Buddhist myths and an
associated ritual, and another body of myths (or, rather, variants of a single
myth) and an associated ritual devoted to the guardian spirits, both
complexes relating to a common village preoccupation. It is hoped that analysis
will bring out the formal relations (1) between myth and its associated

rite, and (2) between two related complexes of myths and their associated
rites, which derive their orderly meaning precisely because of their coexistence
within one cultural and social universe.

I treat myth and its associated ritual initially as two separate phenomena,
each with its own logical structure and message contents, and examine
the nature of the `correspondence' between them. The extension of this
comparison to two complexes of myths and rites will allow me to make
a further statement about formal structural relations and the configuration
of meanings within a single universe of religious thought and action.

The underlying feature that gives coherence to the analysis is the Naga
symbol. In Buddhist ritual, a good example of which is the Bun Phraawes
festival, is represented a cluster of features of the Naga as a servant of
Buddhism and as the life over which the Buddha achieved conquest.
In the cult of the guardian spirits, of which the Bunbangfai is an apt
representation, we have another aspect of the Naga emphasized, namely
its autonomous status and its power as a force of nature in its own right.
In this second aspect, human beings propitiate it as a deity and express
their submission to and reconciliation with it.

To recapitulate some of the main conclusions reached in respect of the
Bun Phraawes festival: it is the major festival of the village performed after
harvest at a time of plenty. It is a grand merit-making ceremony in which
the villagers make liberal gifts to the monks and the wat, listen to the most
celebrated story of Buddha as Phraawes engaging in acts of selfless giving
which represent the ultimate in self-sacrifice, and by analogy and transfer
they acquire merit. Structurally the Bun Phraawes festival divides into
three sequences. First comes the invitation to Phraa Uppakrut, the swamp
monk, to attend the festival; he is associated with protecting the village
and ensuring rains. I interpreted this as man's communion with and the
taming of natural forces. The second phase is the invitation and propitiation
of the divine angels (thewada), who are regarded as benevolent agents of
Buddhism. This phase represents man's reunion with the upper benevolent
spirit world. Uppakrut mediates with nature, the thewada with the divine.
The ideologically central part, enacted in the third phase, is merit-making
and recitation of and listening to the great story (Lam Phraawes). This
sequence recalls and enacts Buddha's life in this world: it recalls a heroic
past and allows present-day humble humanity to participate vicariously
in that past. The three structured sequences represent a hierarchy of
values in which the lower world of nature and the upper world of divine
angels take their place in the service of Buddhism.

How do the myths concerning Phraa Uppakrut relate to the ritual
enactments of Bun Phraawes? I reported three stories or myths concerning

Phraa Uppakrut. In one he is seen as a product of the incorporation of
Buddha's semen by a mermaid: he is thus part Buddhist agent and part
of nature, a union that combines both elements. As mermaid's son, or as
Naga, he represents beneficial water in the never drying pond. In the
second story he is seen as nature's powerful agent who allies with human
beings against their mortal adversary, Mara, who is death. In the third
story he is represented as an ascetic who is superior to temporal power and
who defends Buddhism by reconciling theological differences in the
Sangha.

The intriguing point is that the myths, by exploiting certain thematic
oppositions, produce a resolution by which Uppakrut or Naga becomes
the servant and protector of Buddhism. But the rite addressed to Uppakrut
in the first sequence of Bun Phraawes (the procession to the swamp in
order to `invite' him) does not dramatize the myths; rather it essentially
enacts the conversion and enrolling of the services of the Naga in the
service of Buddhism. The ritual articles carried in the procession are
conspicuous symbols of monkhood—the begging bowl, sandals and robes.
He is persuaded to leave the swamp and climb the sedan by showing him
the Buddha images, and by the sprinkling of puffed rice. Cries of victory
and the chanting of the victory blessing by the monks express the success
of his conversion and the assured success of the battle against Mara with
him as ally. In a sense then, the myths and the rite stand in an inverse
relationship. The myth says that Uppakrut is an agent and guardian of
Buddhism; the rite enacts his conversion into an agent. Thereafter his
role is that of protector and guardian of peace and order, and the festival
itself is regarded as ensuring rain, long life, good health, and absence of
conflict in the village. It might be said that at the Bun Phraawes festival
Uppakrut takes over the role of the village and swamp guardians, while
the guardians themselves, in their non-Buddhist aspect, remain intact
and separate.

Now when we compare the rocket festival (Bunbangfai) with the Bun
Phraawes, we see a different pattern. This festival is in theory unambiguously
directed to the soliciting of rain, prosperity and good health from
the village guardians, who are elevated phii. But the sequences of the
festival show a complex weaving in of Buddhist sequences without confusing
category distinctions, and how the guardian spirit cult is linked to
Buddhism.

The first sequence described was the ordination of novices and monks.
A major reason why ordination takes place at this time is that part of the
merit acquired is transferred to the swamp and village guardians. This
expresses not so much the conversion of the spirits into Buddhist agents

(as Bun Phraawes does with Uppakrut) but that the human actors as
Buddhists transfer some of their moral worth to the spirit guardians as
an offering in order to solicit favours. The ceremony for the elevation
and honouring of monks occasionally performed together with ordination
embodies rich meaning: the monk is purified by water which flows
through the Naga's throat. Here the Naga is distinctly conceived as a
Buddhist agent, and the analogy is that just as the Naga in this ritual
context purifies a monk, so may the swamp and village guardians fertilize
the fields.

The second phase of the festival, which consists of the procession to
the Tapubaan shrine and the firing of the `rocket of respect', excludes the
participation of monks. The villagers, under the leadership of the spirit
guardians' own officiants, enact their collective submission to and dependence
on the guardians. The categorical opposition between Buddhism
and spirit cult is clearly expressed here. However, that same night the
monks in turn chant suad mongkhon and bless the rockets at the wat
according to the Buddhist mode, thereby doubling the chances of success.
The third and final phase is the firing of the wishing rocket, followed by
ritual licence and competitive rocket-firing. In this final phase all take
part, both monks and laymen. All distinctions of social and religious
hierarchy are temporarily dissolved in ritual licence as a prelude to
beginning a new agricultural and religious cycle. This licence is the very
converse of Bun Phraawes which concludes with the day-long listening
to a moving and austere sermon.

The comparison between Bun Phraawes and Bunbangfai reveals that
two ritual complexes stand in opposition and complementarity, and state
a dialectical relationship between two quite different positions taken by
the villagers in regard to man's relationship to nature and the divine.
The first as a Buddhist ceremony and the second as a phii cult bring out
the following contrasts. Bun Phraawes is staged in terms of the pious
Buddhist ideology of merit-making; in this festival the two main categories
of actors are monks and lay elders, who occupy the most important statuses
in the village. Merit-making is accompanied by a grand fair, thus combining
the moral pursuits of monks and elders with the pleasure derived by the
youth. The festival concludes with a day-long recitation of a moving story
of the Buddha's acts of charity and sacrifice. Bunbangfai is staged in terms
of the ideology of the guardian spirit cult, in which favours are sought in
exchange for offerings. The ritual officiants—tiam and cham—practise
ecstatic techniques. Possession represents the descent and entry into men
of powerful supernatural agents in order to aid them. The ceremony
concludes with ritual licence in which village statuses and the respect

hierarchy are dissolved temporarily before the next agricultural cycle
starts. The targets of such licensed behaviour include monks and elders.
The entire community participates, the desire for rain being a collective
wish without grade or distinction. In this sense and in this context, monks
are members of the village like anyone else. When rocket-firing concludes
in competitive play, those who fail to fire rockets successfully are greeted
with mud because they have failed to represent the wish adequately.

Now to compare the two sets of myths. Placed against the legends
concerning Uppakrut, the myth of Phadaeng and Nang Ai states a counterproposition
to the Buddhist statement which is that the Naga, representing
nature, is a power in his own right with whom man has to come to terms.
At one level the Phadaeng and Nang Ai myth portrays conflict between
man and Naga and the latter's superior powers of destruction. But at
a deeper level the myth establishes a relation between society and nature
in the form of a resolution in which both participate in each other: the
swamps and rivers give an historic stamp to the human settlements
around them. The myth validates the power of the Naga as swamp spirit,
and more importantly asserts through a story of conflict the necessary
union of man and nature so as to secure ordered social life.

In the rocket festival as rite, the conflict sequences of the associated
myth are not enacted. The guardian spirit of the swamp (Chao Phau Tong
Khyang), symbolizing rain and fertility, is propitiated by humans in their
capacity as subservient children. Here in the rite the guardian spirit
embodies the conclusion or resolution of the myth, and unites in one
person the twin values of benevolent nature and orderly society. The
rockets, which are vehicles of competition in the myth now in the shape
of the two bang tawai and siang rockets, express in the rite the human
attitude of respect to the spirit and the wish for rain and good health.
They carry these wishes up into the sky in an attempt to reach the
inaccessible. It is only at the end of the festival that the remaining rockets
are fired in a spirit of competition and ritual licence. There is thus a
dialectical inverse relationship between the Phadaeng myth and the rite
of Bunbangfai, paralleling a similar relationship discussed earlier between
the Uppakrut stories and the Bun Phraawes rite. It is therefore time to
examine the formal relations between myth and rite.

MYTH AND RITE

Malinowski (1948), in arguing against certain scholars who concerned
themselves solely with disembodied paper versions of myth, carried his
point of view to the other extreme by stating that the meaning of a myth

can only be seen in terms of its cultural function, its pragmatic role in
social life, its integration into the full context of social life. Myth was
related to belief, rite to action, but they were not at different levels of
behaviour. Malinowski in fact merged them and talked of an organic
whole, which itself fused into the total social context. He wrote:

Malinowski's reluctance to grant myth a separate existence was linked
with the basic view he held about religious phenomena, especially magic
and, therefore, ritual. Ritual was grounded in emotional wishes and was
an emotive reaction with pragmatic interest in the face of the uncontrollable
and unforeseen. This means that for Malinowski myth had no intellectual
or symbolic content; its primary purpose was not to make things intelligible.
Myths do not explain, they are not `an intellectual reaction upon a puzzle',
they have `emotional colouring and pragmatic importance'.

But despite this overall position curious anomalies are to be found in
Malinowski's actual treatment of myths and rites. To cite an example
from his essay `Myth in Primitive Psychology' (Malinowski 1948), let
us look at the myth concerning how humans lost their power of rejuvenation
by sloughing their skins (p. 103 passim). The story revolves around three
persons, mother, daughter and granddaughter, and the loss of eternal
life is presented in terms of conflict between grandmother and granddaughter.
The grandmother cannot remain as young as the granddaughter,
and death is represented in terms of the succession of alternate generations.
Compare this with another myth. The myth which Malinowski explicitly
connected with the annual feast of the dead (milamala) recounts the
permanent removal of the dead to Tuma. The denial of the right to
continue to live in the village after death is represented in terms of the
rejection of mother by daughter and solidarity of grandmother with
grandchild—a reversal of the former story with the same elements (p. 110).
While the myth, then, deals with the separation of the dead from the
living, the milamala as ritual is staged once a year to bring the dead to
the living for a short period of time, for prosperity depends on their
continuing interest (see Malinowski 1948, `Baloma: The Spirits of the
Dead'). Thus the myths which clearly are variations on a theme state

the necessity of death and the necessity of separation of the dead from the
living in terms of succession and replacement, while the ritual establishes
communion between the dead and the living.

The dialectical relation between the milamala myths[9] and rite may be
expressed as follows. Myth sets out an original ideal state of affairs and
after presenting a set of inherent contradictions poses resolutions leading
to dynamic present time. Rite, on the other hand, starting from the
imperfect present, attempts to achieve the ideal conditions set out in
original mythic time. Thus the myths, beginning with the time of the
co-existence of three generations, state the necessity of death and of
separation of the dead from the living in terms of succession and replacement,
while the ritual establishes contact and communion between them.

Malinowski's major theoretical assertions were about the relation between
myth and magic in the Trobriands. Myth did two things in respect of
magic—it validated the `sociological claims of the wielder' of magic and
gave him a pedigree, and it `served as a foundation for a system of magic',
shaping the ritual and vouchsafing for the truth of magical belief (ibid.
p. 119). There was a reciprocal relation between myth and magic: `myth
has crystallised into magical formulae and magic in turn bears testimony
to the authority of myth' (1960, p. 303).

Looking at the role of myth from the standpoint of magic, Malinowski
asserted that myth appeared in the magical rite in the form of mythological
allusions in the spells. The pedigree of the magician and the charter for
the magic were expressed chiefly in the u'ula, the foundation or the first
part of the spell. Frequently, references to mythical events were made
and the names of mythical ancestors, who in succession had used the
formula since its creation by the founder of the magic, were recited.
Sometimes the magician identified himself with the mythical ancestors,
uttering their names as in the first person.

But when we look at the relevant myths and rites, we find that Malinowski
was misled by his prior assumption that myth and magic were
indissolubly linked, each reflecting and giving legitimacy to the other.
He did not inquire, although the evidence pointed that way, whether
myth and rite may say and do different things precisely because they are
separated as well as connected. We would digress too much if we examined
the facts in detail. Suffice it to say here that a close examination of the
myths relating to the flying canoe, Kula, and agricultural magic, and of
the corresponding rites, show that there is an interesting discrepancy
and inversion between them. The myths, dealing with the heroes of ideal

time, explore certain inherent contradictions in the logic of morality as
acted out by persons of varying and permuted kinship statuses, and the
final message of the myths is that magic of the fantastic kind is irretrievably
lost and what remains is magic of a limited kind. In the rite, however, the
magician living in present-day historical time, with its limitations and
imperfections, claims to impersonate and approximate the ideal state and
conditions of mythical time.

Thus in effect once again the relationship between myth and rite appears
as an inversion, or reversed progression, or paradox. This paradox is not
different from the pattern that emerged from my analysis of Thai data.
What I am suggesting, then, is that myth and associated ritual may in
fact provide frameworks for stating the two sides of an insoluble paradox,
and both may attempt the alternative kinds of mediation allowed by the
paradox.

With Lévi-Strauss (1963, Ch. XII) we get a further extension of the
theory of the relationship between myth and ritual. Rejecting the views
that myth is an ideological projection of a rite or that, in reverse, the
ritual is a kind of dramatized illustration of the myth, he advocates that
their relationship be seen in dialectical terms `accessible only if both
have first been reduced to their structural elements'. While Lévi-Strauss's
method of revealing the logical and symbolic structure of myth and ritual
is indeed stimulating (see also 1963, Chs. X and XI), one is not sure of the
plausibility of his demonstration. A case in point is his imputation of
a dialectical relationship between a Pawnee myth and the ritual of another,
alien society (Ch. XII) whose connection with Pawnee society is asserted
in an arbitrary manner.

Following Lévi-Strauss, I have attempted to analyse the structures of
myth and ritual as separate entities and then to examine the nature of
their relationship. I think my demonstration of the relationship is plausible
because I am fairly confident of having observed Malinowski's dictum
that we must see myth and ritual within their `live' social and cultural
context. The following are the implications of the analysis.

First, a particular myth (and its variations) within a social universe
can be seen to have additional meaning when compared with another
myth, as long as the latter is a contrary within a larger universe of meaning.
I have tried to demonstrate that Phraa Uppakrut and Chao Phau Tong
Khyang belong to the same universe of meaning, as aspects of the Naga
symbol and as representing community interests in rain, good health, and
order in society. But the two sets of myths state counter-propositions;
they represent two attitudes regarding man's relation to nature. In one,
Uppakrut as Naga is represented as a Buddhist agent; in the other, Chao

Phau is an independent powerful entity with whom villagers have a
separate relationship.

A second implication of my analysis concerns the relation of myth to
ritual as represented in the ethnography treated here. There is no simple
correspondence, one does not directly reflect the other. The myth does
not validate the rite in Malinowski's terms. The stories about Phraa
Uppakrut represent him as a monk, a product of the union of the Buddha
and a mermaid, and a force ranged on the side of Buddhism against
Mara, the demon of chaos. In the associated rite—the ceremony of
invitation—he is tamed and converted into a Buddhist agent whose
protection is all-important. This conversion is the prelude, the first stage,
in the merit-making rite, which then proceeds to communicate with the
thewada before the sermon is preached. The myth concerning Phadaeng
and Nang Ai has no direct connection with Chao Phau Tong Khyang, to
whom the rite of Bunbangfai is addressed. Chao Phau Tong Khyang is
an end result of the story in that he comes to embody or symbolize the
spirit of the swamp, which represents the union of nature and man. The
myth underlines the power of nature, symbolized as Naga, and the
necessary collaboration of man with it if man is to experience prosperity.
The associated rite of Bunbangfai is a simple one of propitiation of and
bargaining with the spirit of the swamp and the guardian deities who embody
the resolution made by the myth. The rockets which in the myth represented
competition between men for a prize, for which the Naga was
ineligible, become in the rite the vehicles of wishes communicated by
man to the guardian spirit, who has transcended the opposition and
encompasses the co-operation of nature and society. Whereas Bun Phraawes
accents the status of monks and elders as ethical merit-makers, Bunbangfai
erases this form of social structure and reduces all villagers to the status
of Chao Phau's children, equal in relation to one another. The Bunbangfai
rite, then, dramatizes the subjection and dependence of all villagers as
children vis-à-vis their guardian phii.

In formal structure the two myths and the rites associated with them
show a pattern in which one is the mirror image of the other. In the
Buddhist myth and rite, the myth validates the religious status, authority
and power of the swamp monk, who represents nature; the rite enacts just
the opposite—his domestication and subjection to Buddhism. The myth
says he is a Buddhist agent; the rite makes him so. The myth and rite
connected with the guardian phii show opposite oppositions. The myth
is only incidentally concerned with Chao Phau, for he is the residue or
resolution of a devastating conflict portrayed in the myth between man
and nature. The rite expresses the simple dependence and subjection of

man to the guardian spirits, whose superior position and powers are not
in question. The myth describes the conflict, the rite simple dependence.

This pattern, then, demonstrates a particular formal relationship not
only between a myth and its associated rite, but also between two complexes
of myths and rites which stand in `dialectical' association within the
larger universe of religious behaviour. These formal relations derive their
content, in the present ethnography, from the particular ideology and
idiom of Thai village religion which poses its religious conceptions in
terms of basic logical operations. The ideology of Buddhist ethical ritual
conduct is that man should surmount his normal sensory nature in the
service of spiritual self-improvement: the ritual of Uppakrut expresses
this in the idiom of taming. The ideology of Buddhist mythology, on
the other hand, is that supernatural deities were incorporated into the
Buddhist pantheon as benevolent moral agents. The myth and the ritual
thus represent the two co-existing ethical attitudes. The idiom of the ritual
propitiation of guardian spirits is that of bargaining with and appeasement
of a `father' by villagers who are his `children'. This is a relationship
of dependence and of authority. The ritual expresses this relation. The
myth expresses the ideology of a superior power invested in natural forces
which gain their guardianship status through conflict with man and the
latter's subjection or fusion with nature. It states in fact that man confronted
by nature must accept the facts of life and accept its power to harm as
well as to reward. The myth and the ritual of Bunbangfai express this
double relation.

To sum up. The Buddhist theology and mode of ethical action is one
kind of proposition concerning man's orientation to the world. The
theology and ritual of the guardian spirits phrase the counter-orientation.
In the Thai context both appear as necessary and inevitable. Whereas the
idiom in which each is phrased is Thai, the formal pattern they present
is that of the human use of logical operations in terms of opposition and
complementarity, paradox and its alternative mediations.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 16

`BUNBANGFAI' FESTIVAL AT NAPU VILLAGE (1966)

The village of Napu, situated on the banks of the swamp Byng Chuan,
is the centre of the cult associated with the guardian of the swamp,
Tapu Byng or Chao Phau Tong Khyang. It is therefore worthwhile to
describe the Bunbangfai staged there; the documentation will provide

a comparison with and a confirmation of the account given of the festival
staged at Baan Phraan Muan.

In one respect Napu village is more orthodox than Phraan Muan. Its
shrine to the village guardian, Tapubaan, is situated in the wat compound
right next to the bood. This is a spatial expression of the complementarity
between Buddhism and the cult of guardian spirits. Furthermore, Napu,
as the cult centre, has the chief medium (tiam) of the swamp guardian,
three subsidiary female mediums, and an intermediary (cham) who is the
assistant of the chief medium. All these religious personnel participate in
Bunbangfai.

Bunbangfai is, it was claimed, always staged in the middle of the 6th
lunar month (full moon of May). The ceremony is compulsory and held
every year. But its scale varies as in Baan Phraan Muan. As the tiam of
Napu put it: `In a good year when there has been a good harvest, a big
ceremony is held; in a lean year only a small ceremony.'

The sequence of the festivities celebrated in 1966 is as follows: on
the 14th day of the 6th lunar month, which is called mue hoam (time
for bringing things together), villagers got ready the articles necessary for
ordination of monks. In the afternoon the sukhwan nag (ceremony for
recalling the spirit essence of the postulants) was held in the wat, conducted
by the mau khwan (lay officiant). In the evening, after the monks had
chanted suad mongkhon (chant of blessing), began the fair. Entertainment
consisted of mau lam (folk opera) and ramwong (dancing).

On the afternoon of the following day (15th) ordination took place.
It is important to note that the villagers of Napu said categorically:
`Bunbangfai follows ordination', thereby asserting their sequential relationship.
In some years the ceremony for elevating and honouring monks to
the status of Somdet is held, but in 1966 it was not.

After the conclusion of ordination, on the same afternoon, the procession
with rockets (hae bangfai) took place. Before the procession started, the
tiam (medium) took to the shrine of the village guardian (Tapubaan)
candles, flowers and his costume, and made offering (tawai) and paid his
respects (karava) to Tapubaan. Then he dressed himself in the costume
of the tiam, which consisted of: panung dam (black waist cloth or skirt),
sya daeng (red blouse or shirt), pha kian hua (head cloth), pha kard eo
(waist band) and phachedna (handkerchief). The last three items were
also red. The hallmark of a tiam's costume is its red colour, especially
the blouse and head cloth. The subsidiary female tiam also wear these
same colours. The cham (intermediary) wears ordinary clothes.

The `procession with rockets' was formed in the following order: it was
led by the male medium; behind him came the three female mediums and

the intermediary. All of them danced. The musicians—drummers and
bamboo flutists—came next, followed by the other `dancers', most of
whom were persons who had been cured of illness by the medium. These
latter are referred to as luug tiam (`children of the medium') and it is
required that they take part in the procession and dance. The palanquin
bearing the rockets (fifteen in number) was carried behind the dancers;
the carriers consisted primarily of male village elders. The rear of the
procession was brought up by male and female village elders (phuu thaw
and maethaw), and youth of both sexes (phuubaw and phuusaw).

The procession went three times around the bood, and then proceeded
to the shrine of Tapubaan. The medium climbed up the ladder to the
shrine, dedicated the rockets and made a prayer, saying, `If the village
is good let the rocket go up high, if it is not, let the rocket explode'. Then
the bang siang (rocket of wishing and foretelling) was ignited and it was
launched successfully.[10] The procession, carrying the remaining rockets,
then returned to the village and stored them in village homes.

The procession was formed again on the third morning (16th) and the
rockets were carried to the wat. There the monks were feasted, after
which the rockets were carried out of the wat to an open space located
toward the east (an auspicious direction). They were then fired, and there
was much competitive play and ritual licence of the type described earlier
for Baan Phraan Muan.