The Brutal Ordination Parade at Wat Ta Kaek Ban Non Salao – Ban Non Tan, Phu Khiao District, Chaiyaphum Province on Wednesday, May 2, 2018

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is inviting Thais and foreign tourists interested to witness the most unusual, most unique ordination ceremony unlike anywhere else in the world – the Brutal Ordination Parade at Ban Non Salao – Ban Non Tan, Phu Khiao District, Chaiyaphum Province on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at all day but the parade starts 02:00pm.

Held annually since 1971, normally in the month of May before the Buddhist Lent period, this ordination ceremony is particularly arranged for young male villagers of Ban Non Salao – Ban Non Tan communities at Phu Khiao District in Chaiyaphum who are to ordain to become a Buddhist monk.

Each would-be novice will be put on a bamboo stretcher and be carried by young male villagers around the village for approximated 3 kilometers. And while they are sitting over the bamboo chair and carried around, they will be shaken violently and harshly.

Witnesses may think it is the ordination parade looks very brutal but local people believe that this endurance test is like a proof of their real intent and determination to become Buddhist monks. Although those fall off from the bamboo stretcher cannot enter the monkhood, but, since the commencement of this ceremony over 40 years ago, there have never been anyone falling from the bamboo stretcher before. So everyone could become the Buddhist monk.

For more information, contact TAT Nakhon Ratchasima Office at 0-4421-3030, 0-4421-3666, E-mail to: tatsima@tat.or.th, or TAT Call Center at 1672.

Text & Photo Credit by TAT Nakhon Ratchasima Office