The Imaginative Ghost Masks in the Buddhist Cultures on Both Sides of Mekong

Abstract

This article aimed to present the findings regarding ghost masks in Dan Sai District’s Phi Ta Khon, Phi Khon Nam, Phi Khon Pak Lai and Phi Bung Tao parading festivals. The study shows that 1.) through the ghost-mask wearing, the four kinds of ghosts are created to play a role in the festival; the ghost-mask wearing reflects the community’s imagination, 2.) the four kinds of ghost-mask wearing incorporate ghostliness into the human Buddhists in order to relate the ghoulish beings to Buddhism, 3.) the four kinds of ghost-mask wearing originated in different ways, with Phi Ta Khon inspired by the tale of Prince Vessantara’s returning to Sivi in the Laotian or Thai Northeasterners’ Mahachat Jataka which was dramatized in the Khon or Thai Masked Dance, Phi Bung Tao masks created to worship Buddha images and Phi Khon Nam being the only kind to pay homage to animals, and 4.) since the four kinds of ghost-mask wearing festivals occur in the Buddhism-dominated communities, it is suggested that the belief in ghosts is dependent on Buddhism. The mask-wearing culture of the Buddhists on both sides of the Mekong is to integrate ghostliness with Buddhist ceremonies with ghostly masks being worn in a parade. The four kinds of ghost masks created for these rituals reflect the cultural imagination regarding ghosts which can be traced back to the existing belief in ghosts under the compromising Buddhist cultures on both sides of Mekong. In a way, ghost-mask wearing serves as a piece of evidence for the manifestation of ghosts through masks and the candid expression of the Buddhist belief in a harmonious way.