APPENDIX-!.
AN INDIAN FESTIVAL IN SIAM
We are favouied by Phya Priya Nusasana of the
Chulalongkorn University Library, Bangkok, Siam with
the description of the Indian swing Festival as prevail-
ing in Siarn. It is very interesting to trace these Indian
festivals in Indian colonies far away from the mother-
country. The swing ceremony is known in Siam as
Loh Chingcha (loh=to swing, to pull, chingcha=swing).
This 'Pulling the Swing' ceremony occurs on the
seventh and ninth days of the waxing moon of the second
lunar month, dates falling between the latter part of
December and the middle of January. This festival
takes place only in Bangkok and in no other city in
Siam. According to some it has no connection with
the spring festival called Holt in India. Other scho-
lars, however, are of opinion, that it is the Indian
spring festival which had gone over to Siam and assu-
med a different shape. With a little attention, it is
easy to discern the original Indian festival from its
Siamese appearance. We give belo#- the description
of the ceremony in &iam and the readers would be able
to judge whether it is same as the Indian spring festi-
val or not. It should also be noted in passing that
the Brahmins even now play an important part in this
ceremony.
The ceremony is conducted as follows. Shortly
before the appointed date, a nobleman, a different person