Wat Ku Tao in Chang Puak sub-district became the centre of the Chiang Mai Tai Yai community this weekend when it became the destination for the community to gather to celebrate the annual Poi Sang Long festival.
Set amidst a cacophony of gongs, speakers, drums and merry chatter, this rites of passage ceremony of the Shan people is held for boys between the ages of seven and fourteen years old as a type of coming of age celebration.
Boys will take novice monastic vows for the duration of the festival or longer and there is much merry making, song, dance and eating as well as religious and traditional ceremonies.
