With Pattaya gripped by a historic recession and little prospect for recovery this year, residents are resorting to incantation ceremonies to summon the spirit of a Buddhist legend of prosperity.
Winai Intarapitak, member of the Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization, and former Pong Subdistrict headman Yuan Thongloy were the chief laymen in the Aug. 29 “Ai Khai” ceremony at Khao Pho Thong Temple near Mabprachan Reservoir.
Four famous monks – Luang Pho Nat of Ao Yai Temple in Trat, Phra Ajarn Prasuit of Nai Tao Temple in Trang, Luang Pho Tuanchai from Nakhon Nayok, and Luang Pho Petch – initiated the ritual calling for wealth and prosperity to relieve Pattaya Buddhists during the coronavirus recession.
The Ai Khai ceremony originated at Wat Chedi Ai Khai in Nakhon Si Thammarat. According to legend, Luang Pho Thuad Wat Chang Hai, a famous Buddhist teacher in the South, had returned from Ayutthaya and stayed overnight at the temple.
When he arrived, a boy and disciple around 10 years old, showed him many treasures hidden at the temple. He asked the boy to remain there and watch over the fortune. From that day, Ai Khai became a symbol of finding wealth and prosperity. He is immortalized at the Nakhon Si Thammarat wat in a wooden carving in the shape of a child wearing camouflage clothes and black glasses who is more than 1,000 years old.
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