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Inthakin ceremony again well attended this year
Surachai Tungteerabunditkul
Chiang Mai’s annual Inthakin ceremony was launched at
Wat Chedi Luang temple last week. This religious Inthakin ceremony was
organized with a traditional Buddhist rite, and presented the Buddha image
Phra Chao Fon Saen Ha for those people who wanted to make merit by
worshipping and bathing the statue with fragrant water.
Chiang
Mai Mayor Boonlert Buranupakorn reports to the chairman of the ceremony,
Governor Pisit Khetphasook at the opening ceremony.
A Buddha
image at the temple set up for the public to make merit.
Chiang
Mai Governor Pisit presides over the opening ceremony.
Buddhist
monks take in the ceremony.
A parade
float carries a Buddha image during the procession.
Ladies
in beautiful traditional costumes lead an Inthakin ceremony procession.
Incense
sticks, flowers and candles in bowls are seen at the Inthakin ceremony for
making merit.
Chiang Mai Governor Pisit Khetphasook presided over the
opening ceremony, which has been held annually at the temple, where most of
Chiang Mai people come to worship.
The Inthakin poles, or the Chiang Mai foundation pillars,
were first built at the city’s Sadue Muang Temple by King Mengrai when he
founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296. King Kawila moved the post to the
present Wat Chedi Luang Temple site in 1799.
This year, the Inthakin worship ceremony took place May 27 to June 3.
Grand celebrations were arranged with Lanna Thai-style performances, folk
songs, and hand-made products on display.
Chiang
Mai governor’s wife Samoekae Khetphasook led the women to make offerings
at the ceremony.
Elders
participate in the ceremony to make merit by offering flowers, incensed
sticks and candles.
Bowls of
offerings.
A gong
and drum troupe perform at the ceremony.
A group
of women participating in the merit-making ceremony.
The new To Nobody Restaurant opens amid much fanfare and fun
Marion Vogt
Chiang Mai is a paradise for food lovers, and the range
of cuisine found here is second to none. On Monday, June 2, the official
opening of the new, or actually relocated, German restaurant To Nobody took
place in Soi Tewan.
H.S.H.
Prince Bhisadej commends Joerg and Sunisa’s efforts, of course with a
special eye on their support of the Royal Project.
Karl
Eichhorn, product manager, and Saroj Ratanavadi, director, Chiangmai
Malting, presenting a bouquet of flowers to Chef Joerg.
No party
without a gossip corner - caught in the act were Luxamee, Vic, Sunisa and
Gaed.
Over 100
kilos? No doubt - Joerg Eisenschmidt (left) and the dynamic Dutch Duo, the
Brothers Gerry and Marius Arts.
Chiangmai
Mail’s MD Michael Vogt gives the welcome address.
If eating is one of your passions, you have to try it.
The new menu features an abundant selection of mouthwatering meat and
seafood dishes, delicious German and international favorites, and wickedly
indulgent desserts. The guests, who are, by To Nobody standards, treated
more as friends, will have to choose between 73 different dishes, plus
regularly changing ‘Specials’. But not to worry - the traditional Chiang
Mai famous crispy pork knuckle, the assorted plate of homemade sausages with
sauerkraut, as well as the trout from the Royal Project, are all still there
- nothing is missing. The variety has just been extended, and one now finds
a children’s corner, vegetarian dishes, various baguettes &
sandwiches, and quite a few items of the so-called ‘fine cuisine’.
The new outlet is a little different from the old. Gone
is the garden where you had to run inside as soon as the rain decided to
appear. It is still an open-air restaurant, but the tables are arranged
under a roof, so no hurry when it starts to rain. And they are even going
the extra mile to additionally serve lunch in the near future.
The table clothes, the staff uniforms, the plates and
cutlery - everything is new, and sports a more modern touch.
The opening evening was presided over by H. S. H. Prince
Bhisadej Rajanee, as well as the Hon. Consul of the Federal Republic of
Germany Hagen Dirksen and many more honorable and illustrious guests. MC of
the evening was the MD of Chiangmai Mail, Michael Vogt, who introduced Joerg
and Sunisa Eisenschmidt, the energetic couple who after only 2 years in
Chiang Mai became an institution and a pillar of the gastronomic, homemade
cuisine. Chef Joerg not only prepares the dishes with knowledge, but with
his heart. Check it out for yourself and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Never
miss a party, and support the German community - Wanpen Dirksen and Hon.
Consul Hagen Dirksen together with Sunisa and Joerg.
Anna and
Heinz from Austria, along with Lek and Wolfgang from “Lanna House
Antiques”, old-time customers and friends of To Nobody’s, came all the
way from Mae Rim.
The
German-speaking community - Karl-Heinz, Victor, and Dr. Rudi.
The
proud proprietors with H.S.H. Prince Bhisadej (center), Khunying M.R.
Dacharapirom and Thanpuying M.R. Dacharim, the daughter and wife of His
Highness the Prince.
The
ribbon, very appropriately prepared of pork sausages, was happily cut by His
Highness Prince Bhisadej.
Spiritual minds to meet
Imagine there’s convergence of religion
GEORGE SIORIS
In these turbulent times, when the term “religion” is
so often hijacked by the proponents of its very antithesis - namely,
conflict and strife - an academic initiative to discuss religious topics in
the framework of globalization feels like a refreshing breeze. This welcome
event is scheduled to take place here in “the Rose of the North,” the
cultural capital of Thailand, in July. The project was conceived by the
Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture at Payap University in
Chiang Mai.
George
Sioris, a former ambassador of Greece to Japan, is president emeritus of the
Asiatic Society of Japan. He is affiliated with several academic
institutions in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
This institution was established a few years ago as a
research center for scholars and others interested in the historical and
comparative study of religion and culture. Drawing from the inspiration of
some old Christian missionaries to northern Thailand, who were gifted with
both proselyting zeal and deep respect for the indigenous streams of
spirituality, it aims at furthering the understanding of animism, Buddhism,
Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.
In a sense, the mission of the institution can be grasped
in one of the sentences pronounced at its inauguration ceremony by professor
John Carman of the Harvard Divinity School: “The ‘we’ that we share
does not obliterate our differences, but it may help us to see them in a new
light, to recognize the universal claim on our humanity made by so much
great religious teaching.”
The forthcoming international conference on “Religion
and Globalization” will attract some of the best religious scholars in the
world today. The main organizer, the well-known missionary and Professor
John Butt of Payap University, and his advisers have come up with five
central themes:
* Religious diversity and interfaith relations in a
global age;
* Religion in a globalized society;
* Religious reform and reformulation in the global age;
* Historical perspectives in inter-religious interaction,
and;
* Philosophical issues in intercultural and
inter-religious communication.
The conference will be under the auspices of the
institute and the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies. A previous
collaboration between the two in Seattle (July 2000) had a different focus,
with Protestant, Roman Catholic and Mormon traditions on one side and Thai
Buddhist, Tibetan, Taiwanese and Japanese traditions on the other.
A comprehensive structure has been designed for the July
conference. There will be key lectures by eminent personalities such as
professor Donald Swearer of Pennsylvania; Phra Paisan Wisalo, described as
Thailand’s leading reformist monk; Bishop John Shelby Spong of New Jersey;
Dharma Master Hsin Tao of Myanmar, the founder of the Museum of World
Religions in Taiwan; Samaneri Dhammananda, a noted Thai scholar and nun;
Chandra Muzaffar, an Islamic scholar of Malaysia; professor Wesley Ariarajah
of Sri Lanka; and Thai former Finance Minister Tarrin.
Several panels, comprising scholars, social activists and others, will
elaborate on a series of specific subjects. Finally, dozens of individual
papers from a variety of thinkers and researchers will be presented and
discussed, involving nine specific thematic groups.
The 12th European Union Film Festival
Programme
Chiangmai: 5 - 15 June 2003
Vista 12 Huaykaew: Tel (053) 404 374, 404 384
I suppose you have already heard that the Oscar for the
best foreign film this year went to German director Caroline Link for
“Nowhere in Africa”. And as you know, that it is really difficult in
Chiang Mai to see films apart from the Hollywood blockbusters, you now have
the opportunity to see not only the Oscar awarded German film, but 22 more
excellent films from Europe.
“Nowhere in Africa” by Caroline Link
Year released: 2002
Category/Format: Drama, 141 min colour
Principle Cast: Juliane Kohler, Merab Ninidze, Karoline
Eckertz
Just before the outbreak of World War II, the
German-Jewish Redrich family manages to escape the Nazi terror.
Five-year-old Regina begins a new life with her parents, Jettel and Walter,
on a small isolated farm in Kenya, where they lead an impoverished existence
far removed from their roots in Germany. While Regina discovers the magic of
Africa, her parents become desperate in the face of poverty and isolation.
For Walter, his inability to cut Germany out of his heart tortures him far
more than their economic plight. This remains so even when he becomes
certain that the rest of his family in Germany has been murdered by the
Nazis.
“The Campus” by Sanke Wortmann
Year released:1998
Category/Format: Comedy, Drama, 125 min colour
Principle Cast: Heiner Lauterbach, Sandra Speichert,
Barbara Rudnik
Hanno Hackmann, a professor with a brilliant reputation
and the best of prospects to be elected as university president, reflects on
his duties as a husband and loving father and wants to end the affair with
the attractive student Babsi. But, suddenly, he is at the center of a
scandal. Hanno has allegedly raped a student! A sensation from which the
disciplinary committee’s chairman Bernie Weskamp hopes to benefit with a
hefty hike up the career ladder. A disgrace which comes at just the right
moment for the radical feminist and women’s officer Dr. Wagner. And a
story that the sensation-seeking press scramble for with every means at
their command...
Plus More!
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