CHAPTERX.FIRST HAIR-CUTTING OF A YOUNG SIAMESE.Theattention of the traveler as he passes in his boat along the rivers and canals of Siam, in town or country, is often arrested by the sound of music proceeding from beneath an extemporized awning in front of some dwelling by the wayside. There a promiscuous crowd have gathered and are witnessing a theatrical performance, the actors and actresses with chalked faces or hideous masks and in glittering and fantastic attire. The centre of attraction, however, is manifestly a pretty child of a dozen summers or so, richly attired and fairly overlaid with jewelry—​necklaces, gold chains, armlets, bracelets and anklets.A hair-cutting festival is in progress—​akone-chook, as it is called, the ceremonies and the gayeties that attend the first clipping of the cherished topknot on the child’s head. This is the great occasion in the life of the child, and indeed second only to that of a wedding or a funeral in the life of the family. The Siamese in shaving the heads of their children, as they do from their earliest infancy, always leave a small circular lock of hair on the top of the head to be untouched by razor or shears till the child is eleven, thirteen, or fifteen years old. Were it to be cut at an earlier day or without the customary ceremonies, the parents would fear their child would become insane or a prey to a kind of demon they call ayak. This lock grows a foot or so long, and is kept oiled and neatly twisted into a knot. Through this a gilt or golden large-headed hairpin three inches long is thrust, and not unfrequently a garland of fragrant white flowers is worn around it, giving young Siamese children quite a pretty appearance.REMOVAL OF THE TUFT OF A YOUNG SIAMESEREMOVAL OF THE TUFT OF A YOUNG SIAMESE.When the right year has arrived and the lucky day for the hair-cutting has been fixed by the astrologers, the friends of the family are invited, and a band of play-actors engaged and a company of Buddhist priests, and for a day or two there is a constant round of prayer-chanting, play-acting and feasting of priests and friends. The ceremonies begin with the priests chanting in chorus their prayers, seated cross-legged on mats on an elevated platform, a thread of white cotton yarn passing from their hands around the clasped hands of the kneeling child and back to them again, serving as a sort of electric conductor to the child of the benefits their prayers evoke. The next morning, when the auspicious moment arrives, the man of highest rank among the guests with shears clips off the long-cherished lock, and the head is close shaved for the first time; and then the child, dressed in white, is led to an elevated seat under a canopy of white cloth and consecrated water is poured freely over it, first by the parents, then by kindred and friends. Its drenched garments are now replaced by gay attire, and a curious ceremony calledweean teeanis next gone through with. Candles are lighted, and while the music is playing loudly are carried five times round the child, who is seated on a kind of throne between two circular five-storied flowerstand-like altars, calledbai-sees, containing cooked rice, fruit and flowers, offerings to the spirits of the air. The candles are then blown out in such a way that the smoke shall be borne toward the child. This is supposed to stock the boy or girl with spirit and courage for the duties of life.The relatives and friends of the family now are expected to make a present in money to the child, each according to his ability or station, the sums varying from one to eighty pieces of silver (60 cents to $48), so that the newly-shorn youngster will on these occasions receive enough to give him quite a start in the world or if a maiden sufficient for a dowry.And now a general feasting ensues, the yellow-clad priests being first served, and for a day or two more the music and theatrical performances continue. After this the children are reckoned as young men and young women. Thekone-chookis in fact their “coming-out†festival.Those whose poverty will not allow the expense of such an affair take their child when it arrives at the proper age to a Buddhist temple, and have a priest shave off the tuft with some simple religious ceremony.If so much is made of this observance in the case of ordinary children, the celebration of the first hair-cutting of a young prince or princess, as may well be imagined, is a very grand affair. It is then styled asokan. Preparations for it commence months beforehand; the governors of provinces far and near are summoned to be present; the highest priests in the kingdom are invited; and public festivities, with free theatres, shadow-plays, rope-dancing, etc., to amuse the immense crowds of people present, are kept up for many days.If the child prince or princess is of the very highest rank, part of the ceremony takes place on an artificial mountain constructed in the court of the palace of strong timberwork and boards, covered so entirely with sheets of pewter gilded that it appears like a beautiful mountain of gold. The one erected a few years ago for thesokanof the eldest daughter of the reigning king—​she being also a great grand-daughter of the ex-regent—​the princess Sri Wililaxan, was sixty feet high (higher than a four-story building), and had cliffs here and grottoes there, and lakes and waterfalls, and trees with artificial monkeys and birds and serpents, which by concealed machinery were made to move among them as if alive, and winding paths that led to the top, where an elegant gilt pavilion gleamed in the sun.The ceremonies on this occasion commenced with the chanting of prayers in the hall of state at the palace by twenty-four head priests of the chief temples of the city, and the lighting of “the candle of victory,†a huge wax candle six feet high, which burned day and night till the moment the hair was cut. The next morning these same priests were sumptuously feasted at the palace, and dismissed with presents of priests’ robes, cushions, fans, etc., and another company took their place.In the afternoon was the first of the grand processions to escort the young princess to the great hall of state where the religious services were held. In the open square in front of this hall seats were provided for six or seven hundred of the nobility to witness the procession, themselves a most brilliant sight in their coats of gold brocade, many sparkling with diamonds. As soon as the king arrived and seated himself in the high pavilion prepared for him a troop of beautiful girls in glittering dresses descended from the golden mountain—​from the gilded temple there—​and at the base of the mountain, in full view of His Majesty, danced the flower-dance to the sound of native music, waving branches of gold and silver flowers.Heralded by music, the imposing procession now came on. First there were masked men representing Japanese warriors; then Siamese soldiers in European uniform, with bands of music; then two noblemen, representing celestial messengers, archangels, dressed in all white with gold embroidery, and having crowns on their heads terminating in a long, slender, white spire full eighteen inches high. These led on a hundred more angels with like high-pointed spires on their heads; then came Indian musicians and yet more angels, and then companies of men and boys of all nationalities that were to serve the princess, each in their national costume—​first, a troop of Chinese in blue, then of Malays with white turbans, then Anamese, Peguans, Laos, Karens.And now a pretty sight—​more than a hundred children of noblemen dressed in white, with little gold coronets on their topknots and loaded with jewelry, all kept in their places by holding on to a rope drawn tight by strong men before and behind. Trumpeters and drummers in scarlet came next, and Brahmans in white and gold scattering flowers and sprinkling holy water. Men now came on carrying the peculiar standards of royalty: eight had each a sort of many-storied umbrella of gold cloth, the staff fifteen feet high; others carried huge golden curiously-carved fans with long handles, others spears, and one the sword of state. Two pretty damsels, robed and crowned as queens, with bunches of peacock feathers in their hands, followed, and then came the little princess herself, in white robes and wearing a small diadem, seated on a golden throne borne aloft on the shoulders of pages in purple. By her side walked six of the great nobles of the kingdom as archangels, with high white steeple-like crowns, and twelve maids of honor in rich dresses followed, bearing her gold tray of betel, her spittoon, fan and other articles of use; then there were more of the storied umbrellas and huge fans and spear-bearers. Next in the procession walked with lady-like and graceful carriage fifty or more of the king’s wives in ranks of four, all wearing robes of snowy silk reaching to their feet, with scarfs of silver hue, and eight or nine massive gold chains passing over one shoulder and across the breast, as did the scarfs, the other shoulder and arm being left bare. After these came various officials of the harem, and last the female police of the palace.Following the women of the palace were representatives of women of all the nations living in Siam and near it—​Chinese, Japanese, Hindoo, Burmese, Laos, Cochin-Chinese, etc.—​each in their national dress, the last in long blue silk coats with orange trousers. These were succeeded by the Siamese servants of the princess—​hundreds of lively girls in bright scarfs; after them two white ponies were led by grooms. Then came the men-servants, many hundreds, in white jackets, and a regiment of Siamese soldiers formed the rear-guard.When the princess reached the pavilion where His Majesty sat, her bearers stopped, and she made homage to her royal father by raising her joined hands above her head. He, rising to receive her, lifted her to his side, and together they passed in to where a relay of priests were chanting prayers. After an hour or so, the princess, coming out, was escorted back to the gate of the inner palace, all going in the same order as that in which they came. These processions were repeated every afternoon for three days.On the fourth and great day the ceremonies commenced in the morning soon after daybreak, for so the Brahman astrologers had directed. The princess, borne in procession as usual, was taken to the great hall of the palace, and there, precisely at the lucky moment, the lock of hair about which all this ado was made was solemnly cut with scissors by the highest of the princes. Her head was then close shaved with gold, silver and steel razors. The candle of victory was now extinguished. Still clad in white, our little princess was next carried in procession to the foot of the golden mountain and seated on a marble bench in a pool representing the holy lake Anodad. Here the king took five jars—​of gold, silver, brass, bronze and stone—​and poured holy water over her. She shivered, and almost cried. But the great princes and princesses, and after them the chief of nobles, came up, and each in turn poured water over the poor child with trying deliberation for nearly half an hour. At last she was permitted to retire to a curtained pavilion near and exchange her drenched robes of white for the rich apparel of royalty. The prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs, gorgeously clad as angels, escorted her now up the golden mountain. At the summit an aged uncle of the king and her royal father himself received her. In the pretty temple there she was invested with a crown of solid gold, and then descended in full royal state covered with jewels, and was carried in procession thrice round the mountain, her right hand toward it.But, lo! a marvelous transformation in the appearance of the procession had now taken place. The angels that had been clad in white now assumed pink or rose tints; the ladies of the palace had golden-colored scarfs instead of silver, and the pretty children that came in white were now seen clothed in pink, with bright red bands around their topknots and coronets, all indicative of the joyous change the clipping of that lock of hair had brought to the royal child.The morning’s ceremony lasted in all about three hours, and then the princess was borne away to needful rest for a season.In the afternoon another ceremony was performed—​the “weean teean,†or encircling with candles, of which mention has been made before. Borne to the hall of state in procession, the princess, in rich costume, was seated on a central throne, between twobai-sees, which in this case were five-storied piles of round golden trays successively diminishing in size toward the top, looking like circular flower-stands, each containing cooked rice-cakes, scented oil and flour, young cocoanuts and bananas—​all surmounted by a bouquet of flowers. Near her sat her royal father. All around the hall were the princes and nobles and ladies of rank seated in a circle. Two chiefs of the Brahmans standing near thebai-seeslighted in succession fifteen large wax candles set in gold, silver and crystal candlesticks, and handed them one by one to the highest in rank present, who with a wave of his hand guided the flame toward the princess and passed the candle on to the next, who did the same. At the same time others of the Brahmans were beating their peculiar drums with a wild burst of music, and hymns were chanted while each of the fifteen candles made the circuit of the hall five times, and then were handed back to the Brahman, who suddenly extinguished them, blowing the smoke toward the princess, thus wafting to her, as it were, the invigorating influence of beneficent spirits, of which they say the air is full. With the same object the Brahman gave the child some of the rice with the milk of the young cocoanut, and, dipping his finger in the sacred oil and scented flour, anointed the right foot in three places. The king then poured holy water over his daughter’s hands, which she passed over her head, and the ceremonies for the day were over. For three days this weean-teean rite was performed, and the processions escorting the princess back and forth went on, and then the sokan festival was ended.During these last three days congratulatory presents in silver coin were most liberally made to the little princess by all of any rank in the kingdom. The amount received on this occasion was not less, it is said, than fifty thousand dollars—​enough certainly to keep a Siamese princess in pin-money for life.One cannot help remarking, How costly all these vain heathen superstitions! And all this pomp and parade and immense expense and these wearisome ceremonies, cheerfully undertaken to avert from the king’s daughter imaginary evils, from which, if they existed, God only could protect, and to induce prosperity which God only could give! Sad indeed it is to reflect how completely, in this and in all the customs of this people, all reference to or thought of the Lord and Maker of us all, on whom all creatures are dependent for every blessing, and whose favor is life and true happiness, has been shut out.Let us, “whose souls are lighted by wisdom from on high,†pray earnestly for these boys and girls in Siam, who now trust in these foolish rites and offerings to spirits that do not exist, that as they enter upon manhood and womanhood the blessing of the almighty One may rest upon them, so that they, more favored than those before them, may learn and believe and rejoice in the truth as it is in Christ the Lord.
Theattention of the traveler as he passes in his boat along the rivers and canals of Siam, in town or country, is often arrested by the sound of music proceeding from beneath an extemporized awning in front of some dwelling by the wayside. There a promiscuous crowd have gathered and are witnessing a theatrical performance, the actors and actresses with chalked faces or hideous masks and in glittering and fantastic attire. The centre of attraction, however, is manifestly a pretty child of a dozen summers or so, richly attired and fairly overlaid with jewelry—​necklaces, gold chains, armlets, bracelets and anklets.
A hair-cutting festival is in progress—​akone-chook, as it is called, the ceremonies and the gayeties that attend the first clipping of the cherished topknot on the child’s head. This is the great occasion in the life of the child, and indeed second only to that of a wedding or a funeral in the life of the family. The Siamese in shaving the heads of their children, as they do from their earliest infancy, always leave a small circular lock of hair on the top of the head to be untouched by razor or shears till the child is eleven, thirteen, or fifteen years old. Were it to be cut at an earlier day or without the customary ceremonies, the parents would fear their child would become insane or a prey to a kind of demon they call ayak. This lock grows a foot or so long, and is kept oiled and neatly twisted into a knot. Through this a gilt or golden large-headed hairpin three inches long is thrust, and not unfrequently a garland of fragrant white flowers is worn around it, giving young Siamese children quite a pretty appearance.
REMOVAL OF THE TUFT OF A YOUNG SIAMESEREMOVAL OF THE TUFT OF A YOUNG SIAMESE.
REMOVAL OF THE TUFT OF A YOUNG SIAMESE.
When the right year has arrived and the lucky day for the hair-cutting has been fixed by the astrologers, the friends of the family are invited, and a band of play-actors engaged and a company of Buddhist priests, and for a day or two there is a constant round of prayer-chanting, play-acting and feasting of priests and friends. The ceremonies begin with the priests chanting in chorus their prayers, seated cross-legged on mats on an elevated platform, a thread of white cotton yarn passing from their hands around the clasped hands of the kneeling child and back to them again, serving as a sort of electric conductor to the child of the benefits their prayers evoke. The next morning, when the auspicious moment arrives, the man of highest rank among the guests with shears clips off the long-cherished lock, and the head is close shaved for the first time; and then the child, dressed in white, is led to an elevated seat under a canopy of white cloth and consecrated water is poured freely over it, first by the parents, then by kindred and friends. Its drenched garments are now replaced by gay attire, and a curious ceremony calledweean teeanis next gone through with. Candles are lighted, and while the music is playing loudly are carried five times round the child, who is seated on a kind of throne between two circular five-storied flowerstand-like altars, calledbai-sees, containing cooked rice, fruit and flowers, offerings to the spirits of the air. The candles are then blown out in such a way that the smoke shall be borne toward the child. This is supposed to stock the boy or girl with spirit and courage for the duties of life.
The relatives and friends of the family now are expected to make a present in money to the child, each according to his ability or station, the sums varying from one to eighty pieces of silver (60 cents to $48), so that the newly-shorn youngster will on these occasions receive enough to give him quite a start in the world or if a maiden sufficient for a dowry.
And now a general feasting ensues, the yellow-clad priests being first served, and for a day or two more the music and theatrical performances continue. After this the children are reckoned as young men and young women. Thekone-chookis in fact their “coming-out†festival.
Those whose poverty will not allow the expense of such an affair take their child when it arrives at the proper age to a Buddhist temple, and have a priest shave off the tuft with some simple religious ceremony.
If so much is made of this observance in the case of ordinary children, the celebration of the first hair-cutting of a young prince or princess, as may well be imagined, is a very grand affair. It is then styled asokan. Preparations for it commence months beforehand; the governors of provinces far and near are summoned to be present; the highest priests in the kingdom are invited; and public festivities, with free theatres, shadow-plays, rope-dancing, etc., to amuse the immense crowds of people present, are kept up for many days.
If the child prince or princess is of the very highest rank, part of the ceremony takes place on an artificial mountain constructed in the court of the palace of strong timberwork and boards, covered so entirely with sheets of pewter gilded that it appears like a beautiful mountain of gold. The one erected a few years ago for thesokanof the eldest daughter of the reigning king—​she being also a great grand-daughter of the ex-regent—​the princess Sri Wililaxan, was sixty feet high (higher than a four-story building), and had cliffs here and grottoes there, and lakes and waterfalls, and trees with artificial monkeys and birds and serpents, which by concealed machinery were made to move among them as if alive, and winding paths that led to the top, where an elegant gilt pavilion gleamed in the sun.
The ceremonies on this occasion commenced with the chanting of prayers in the hall of state at the palace by twenty-four head priests of the chief temples of the city, and the lighting of “the candle of victory,†a huge wax candle six feet high, which burned day and night till the moment the hair was cut. The next morning these same priests were sumptuously feasted at the palace, and dismissed with presents of priests’ robes, cushions, fans, etc., and another company took their place.
In the afternoon was the first of the grand processions to escort the young princess to the great hall of state where the religious services were held. In the open square in front of this hall seats were provided for six or seven hundred of the nobility to witness the procession, themselves a most brilliant sight in their coats of gold brocade, many sparkling with diamonds. As soon as the king arrived and seated himself in the high pavilion prepared for him a troop of beautiful girls in glittering dresses descended from the golden mountain—​from the gilded temple there—​and at the base of the mountain, in full view of His Majesty, danced the flower-dance to the sound of native music, waving branches of gold and silver flowers.
Heralded by music, the imposing procession now came on. First there were masked men representing Japanese warriors; then Siamese soldiers in European uniform, with bands of music; then two noblemen, representing celestial messengers, archangels, dressed in all white with gold embroidery, and having crowns on their heads terminating in a long, slender, white spire full eighteen inches high. These led on a hundred more angels with like high-pointed spires on their heads; then came Indian musicians and yet more angels, and then companies of men and boys of all nationalities that were to serve the princess, each in their national costume—​first, a troop of Chinese in blue, then of Malays with white turbans, then Anamese, Peguans, Laos, Karens.
And now a pretty sight—​more than a hundred children of noblemen dressed in white, with little gold coronets on their topknots and loaded with jewelry, all kept in their places by holding on to a rope drawn tight by strong men before and behind. Trumpeters and drummers in scarlet came next, and Brahmans in white and gold scattering flowers and sprinkling holy water. Men now came on carrying the peculiar standards of royalty: eight had each a sort of many-storied umbrella of gold cloth, the staff fifteen feet high; others carried huge golden curiously-carved fans with long handles, others spears, and one the sword of state. Two pretty damsels, robed and crowned as queens, with bunches of peacock feathers in their hands, followed, and then came the little princess herself, in white robes and wearing a small diadem, seated on a golden throne borne aloft on the shoulders of pages in purple. By her side walked six of the great nobles of the kingdom as archangels, with high white steeple-like crowns, and twelve maids of honor in rich dresses followed, bearing her gold tray of betel, her spittoon, fan and other articles of use; then there were more of the storied umbrellas and huge fans and spear-bearers. Next in the procession walked with lady-like and graceful carriage fifty or more of the king’s wives in ranks of four, all wearing robes of snowy silk reaching to their feet, with scarfs of silver hue, and eight or nine massive gold chains passing over one shoulder and across the breast, as did the scarfs, the other shoulder and arm being left bare. After these came various officials of the harem, and last the female police of the palace.
Following the women of the palace were representatives of women of all the nations living in Siam and near it—​Chinese, Japanese, Hindoo, Burmese, Laos, Cochin-Chinese, etc.—​each in their national dress, the last in long blue silk coats with orange trousers. These were succeeded by the Siamese servants of the princess—​hundreds of lively girls in bright scarfs; after them two white ponies were led by grooms. Then came the men-servants, many hundreds, in white jackets, and a regiment of Siamese soldiers formed the rear-guard.
When the princess reached the pavilion where His Majesty sat, her bearers stopped, and she made homage to her royal father by raising her joined hands above her head. He, rising to receive her, lifted her to his side, and together they passed in to where a relay of priests were chanting prayers. After an hour or so, the princess, coming out, was escorted back to the gate of the inner palace, all going in the same order as that in which they came. These processions were repeated every afternoon for three days.
On the fourth and great day the ceremonies commenced in the morning soon after daybreak, for so the Brahman astrologers had directed. The princess, borne in procession as usual, was taken to the great hall of the palace, and there, precisely at the lucky moment, the lock of hair about which all this ado was made was solemnly cut with scissors by the highest of the princes. Her head was then close shaved with gold, silver and steel razors. The candle of victory was now extinguished. Still clad in white, our little princess was next carried in procession to the foot of the golden mountain and seated on a marble bench in a pool representing the holy lake Anodad. Here the king took five jars—​of gold, silver, brass, bronze and stone—​and poured holy water over her. She shivered, and almost cried. But the great princes and princesses, and after them the chief of nobles, came up, and each in turn poured water over the poor child with trying deliberation for nearly half an hour. At last she was permitted to retire to a curtained pavilion near and exchange her drenched robes of white for the rich apparel of royalty. The prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs, gorgeously clad as angels, escorted her now up the golden mountain. At the summit an aged uncle of the king and her royal father himself received her. In the pretty temple there she was invested with a crown of solid gold, and then descended in full royal state covered with jewels, and was carried in procession thrice round the mountain, her right hand toward it.
But, lo! a marvelous transformation in the appearance of the procession had now taken place. The angels that had been clad in white now assumed pink or rose tints; the ladies of the palace had golden-colored scarfs instead of silver, and the pretty children that came in white were now seen clothed in pink, with bright red bands around their topknots and coronets, all indicative of the joyous change the clipping of that lock of hair had brought to the royal child.
The morning’s ceremony lasted in all about three hours, and then the princess was borne away to needful rest for a season.
In the afternoon another ceremony was performed—​the “weean teean,†or encircling with candles, of which mention has been made before. Borne to the hall of state in procession, the princess, in rich costume, was seated on a central throne, between twobai-sees, which in this case were five-storied piles of round golden trays successively diminishing in size toward the top, looking like circular flower-stands, each containing cooked rice-cakes, scented oil and flour, young cocoanuts and bananas—​all surmounted by a bouquet of flowers. Near her sat her royal father. All around the hall were the princes and nobles and ladies of rank seated in a circle. Two chiefs of the Brahmans standing near thebai-seeslighted in succession fifteen large wax candles set in gold, silver and crystal candlesticks, and handed them one by one to the highest in rank present, who with a wave of his hand guided the flame toward the princess and passed the candle on to the next, who did the same. At the same time others of the Brahmans were beating their peculiar drums with a wild burst of music, and hymns were chanted while each of the fifteen candles made the circuit of the hall five times, and then were handed back to the Brahman, who suddenly extinguished them, blowing the smoke toward the princess, thus wafting to her, as it were, the invigorating influence of beneficent spirits, of which they say the air is full. With the same object the Brahman gave the child some of the rice with the milk of the young cocoanut, and, dipping his finger in the sacred oil and scented flour, anointed the right foot in three places. The king then poured holy water over his daughter’s hands, which she passed over her head, and the ceremonies for the day were over. For three days this weean-teean rite was performed, and the processions escorting the princess back and forth went on, and then the sokan festival was ended.
During these last three days congratulatory presents in silver coin were most liberally made to the little princess by all of any rank in the kingdom. The amount received on this occasion was not less, it is said, than fifty thousand dollars—​enough certainly to keep a Siamese princess in pin-money for life.
One cannot help remarking, How costly all these vain heathen superstitions! And all this pomp and parade and immense expense and these wearisome ceremonies, cheerfully undertaken to avert from the king’s daughter imaginary evils, from which, if they existed, God only could protect, and to induce prosperity which God only could give! Sad indeed it is to reflect how completely, in this and in all the customs of this people, all reference to or thought of the Lord and Maker of us all, on whom all creatures are dependent for every blessing, and whose favor is life and true happiness, has been shut out.
Let us, “whose souls are lighted by wisdom from on high,†pray earnestly for these boys and girls in Siam, who now trust in these foolish rites and offerings to spirits that do not exist, that as they enter upon manhood and womanhood the blessing of the almighty One may rest upon them, so that they, more favored than those before them, may learn and believe and rejoice in the truth as it is in Christ the Lord.