What do Wat Bang Phra monks do in Sak Yant festival?

At an annual ceremony at Thailand’s Wat Bang Phra temple, monks tattoo protective ink featuring animals and religious scripts on devotees, who believe the tattoos bring good luck and will protect them from harm.

Can you choose your Sak Yant tattoo?

Can I choose where the Sak Yant is placed? It is usually ok to choose the placement of a Sak Yant though certain Yants must be put in specific places. Depending on the image, some Yants cannot be placed under the waist.

What do Sak Yant tattoos mean?

Sak yant tattoos are said to offer luck, various powers and protection. Animal “yants” convey the animal’s powers to the wearer.

Where do you put Sak Yant tattoo?

Sak Yant’s are a spiritual and magical Tattoo and those images that represent Buddha or the Master Yant’s have to be placed on the back, the arms and side torso. Females can not get the Sak Yant placed around the breasts (or have the area exposed) or below the waist.

Are Sak Yant tattoos painful?

A common question asked is how painful getting a sak yant is, and the answer varies from person to person and location on the body (the bonier parts such as your chest and ribcage will hurt more than your arm or leg). For some, it is extremely painful, and for others, it doesn’t hurt much at all.

Are Sak Yant tattoos permanent?

The powers of the Sak Yant tattoo will be stays till you break the rules. If you have broken the rules you will need to visit the monk who drew the tattoo, to get it blessed again. The whole journey of getting a Sak Yant tattoo is mystical, once you plan and choose the place you want to get it from.

How many Sak Yant are there?

There are five main sak yant tattoo rules to follow after the tattoo and blessing has been performed (for a monk there can be as many as one hundred). Failure to follow these simple rules will result in the loss of any spiritual power attached by the blessing to the wear.