Deer Dance

At the beginning of Buddhist Lent (Khao Phansa) all Buddhist temples celebrate ceremonies to start the retreat of the monks for about three months. At Wat Tha Kradas, at the north-eastern skirts of Chiang Mai city we witness the evening procession เวียนเทียน or "vien tien". During this ceremony, people turn around three times the ubosot (ordination pavilion) holding a candle in the hand. After procession we see the sand mountain candles and offerings on the ground. Finally the dances start. The video show a dance mask performed by two men first, and two children later. At the end of this dance comes Deer Dance or Ram Toe as it is called in Shan language. The Deer dance requires two people to act the part of the deer. Can be deer, antelope or goat heads. The body of the mythical animal, which is made of thick white hair, always stays the same. The deer dance requires perfect harmony between the two performers filling the roles of front and rear legs. It's toughest to be the person at the back. This performer has to stoop low all the time, and follow signals from the front person. It requires both strength and grace to perform a move in which the deer rolls on the floor. A popular part of the proceedings involves the deer approaching the audience for donations or banknotes which the deer then holds in his mouth. Special care goes into preparing the costumes, based on originals from Shan States. It takes a skilful designer about two weeks to make the deer costumes. The white deer costume cost about 1,000 baht (aproximately 22 Euro). All monks and novices living in Wat Tha Kradas are ethnical Shan, people descending or coming from Shan States, on the northern part of Myanmar. Shan people are fleeing their country due the brutal prosecution by the Military Junta that rules Burma. Many of Shan people settle down in Thailand as refugees without almost no recognition from Thai authorities.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shan
• Shan States
• Ram Toe
• Deer Dance
• Lion Dance
• Wat Tha Kradas
• Chiang Mai
• Thailand
• Jaume Mestres

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