RAP BUA CEREMONY

At the close of the monsoon season, the thunderstorms that have lashed Bang Phlii become a flower shower, and a time for celebration. A barge moves slowly down the town’s waterway, Khlong Samrong. Worshippers along the banks loft lotuses into it, so many that they nearly engulf its principal passenger: a large Buddha image. The image, a replica of the Luang Pho To in the nearby monastery, is the focus of this, the Rap Bua ceremony. Its journey recreates one of almost mythical proportions two centuries ago. Thousands of Thais flock here each year at the end of the rainy season to honour it.

And to have fun. In Thailand, solemn rituals are generally leavened with … well, levity, as though to relieve the sombreness of the rite. Folk dramas, sea boxing, his and her beauty contests, boat races, light-and-sound extravaganzas, food, and fairs are all an integral part of the rap bua festivities.

Wat Bang Phlii, the main Buddhist monastery in a village of the same name, lies near the rivermouth town of Samut Prakan (Paknam), an hour south of Bangkok. Entering the monastery’s ordination hall, one encounters a large bronze, Sukhothai-style image that folk legend says miraculously came to rest here.

According to village tradition, two centuries ago, three sacred Buddha images floated down the Chao Phraya, Bangpakong, and Ta Chin Rivers. Upriver villagers struggled to pull the images to shore, but they seemed to have distance destinations and resisted all efforts to dissuade them. The Luang Pho Sothon image eventually came to rest at Chachoengsao, the Luang Pho Wat Ban Laem in Samut Songkhram, and the Luang Pho To, in Bang Phlii.

Three competing old stories consider the origins of the rap bua fete itself. While they contain the normal folktale inconsistencies and contradictions, there are also commonalities. All agree that rap bua is a Mon celebration — likely brought from southern Burma by Mon war refugees — and that Bang Phlii produces an abundance of beautiful lotuses. Moreover, the village has long been a pilgrimage spot for upriver residents to collect lotuses for the awk phansa observances. This special October day marks the end of the three-month ‘rains retreat’, during which monks have remained in their monasteries to avoid trampling rice plants on their daily walks, a practice that dates from the Buddha’s time. Awk phansa marks the end of their confinement and of the rainy season.

The lotus is a powerful symbol in Buddhism. Representing the purity of Buddha’s teaching, it rises pristine from the mud in ponds and lakes to shine resplendently. Lotuses appear throughout Buddhist lore. When the baby Buddha took his first seven steps, lotuses sprang up beneath his feet. Buddha images rest atop symbolic lotuses and the finial of every monastery column is a lotus or a water lily.

In the past, Bang Phlii accommodated its lotus-gathering guests by picking the lotuses for them hours in advance of their arrival. The guests’ boats would hove into port late at night, the passengers singing, dancing, and playing instruments. In the morning, the Bang Phlii villagers would present the newcomers with the lotuses (bua) they had picked and the visitors would receive (rap) them with grateful thanks.

To commemorate the event, villagers organise a two-day celebration that begins on the thirteenth day of the waxing moon in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar (October 20 - 22, 2010). The following morning, a replica of the famed image is placed on a barge and towed down the canal where worshippers toss lotuses to honour it.

After offering food to monks and listening to a sermon, celebrants turn to leisure, and there is no shortage of amusements: phleng rua (traditional singing in boats), folk plays like saba thoi and saba bon, beauty contests, traditional water sports, boat races featuring the mat (dugout boats) and ancient boats, a tug-of-war involving boats, and a boat-decorating competition with prizes awarded for beauty, creativity, and humor. A highlight is muay talay (sea boxing) where two combatants perched on wooden frames erected over the ocean try to knock their opponents into the water below.

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