Poi Sang Long Research Paper

Poi sang long is the Shan buddhist community celebration of men under twenty ordaining into a novice monk. This ritual is based on a part of Siddhartha Gautama’s life, when he chose to leave everything behind to achieve enlightenment. The ordination would roughly happen every three years or when their is enough boys who are the age of ten and older. “Typically a three-day” ritual, during the months between march and may “just before the rainy season” (Eberhardt, 127). During the ordination period of the next three days the boys hair are completely shaved off and they are dressed and treated like royalty. The celebration is very loud, colourful and full of life, but later on the boys had to changed their royal attire to a simple monk robes. It felt like the mood had changed, the atmosphere became quite and you could only hear chanting. Numerous of people from other villages come to see the ordination and during that time they can enjoy food and drinks that were provided by the sponsors who planned the entire event. To sponsor such grand event a person or a couple have to be wealthy because an extensive amount of money goes into organizing this event. This ritual symbolizes the story of Siddhartha Gautama’s most crucial …show more content…
Theravada Buddhist believe in singularity, it is do it yourself religion and celebration is not part of it. When Gautama Buddha left his royal life to achieve Buddhahood, he was not celebrated but why Poi sang long is such a massive event and it is an honour to host it. The people who sponsor the event and a boy gain respect and higher status in the community. The sponsors would be in charge of the organization of the event, but the actual ordination ritual that is performed in the temple is done by the elder monks. During the celebration the young people are having fun, drinking, flirting, and the older people are just enjoying the