Pu Sae Ya Sae Festival Chiang Mai

Pu Sae Ya Sae Festival Chiang Mai

Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival is one of the most gruesome ceremonies performed in certain parts of Chiang Mai. A strictly animist festival, Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival is held in the seventh lunar month, on 14th day of the rising moon.

Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival is a festive event that is organized at Mae Hia near Wat Doi Kham. As per tradition, Pu Sae and Ya Sae are guardian spirits of Chiang Mai. They are believed to be roaming on the slopes of Doi Suthep.

According to the history of Chiang Mai, the earliest inhabitants of this region were the Lawa. They are presumed to have been cannibals, or man-eaters. The Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival is held in relation to the legend associated with these cannibals.

When Lord Buddha visited Chiang Mai, the brother-sister duo of Pu Sae and Ya Sae followed him with the intention of eating him. The 'enlightened' Buddha however, managed to persuade them to give up cannibalism. The duo then pleaded with the lord to allow them to eat buffalo flesh, at least once a year.

The Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival has been held ever since then. At the beginning of the rainy season, usually in June, a buffalo is ritually sacrificed. Buddhist monks, members of the royal family and locals participate in the ceremony.

The Pu Sae-Ya Sae invocation states, 'Let not the rice of the Lawa die in their swiddens; let not the rice of the Thai wither and die in their paddies.' These words define the close association between Lawa and Northern Thai people.

One of the traditional festivals in Chiang Mai, the Pu Sae-Ya Sae Festival is now performed by only a few households. The ceremony is now used mainly to unite members of the Lawa community with modern-day Thais, who had initially replaced them in the city.

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