Metal-Casting Ceremony for the Sacred Alloy — Creating the Medallion of the Two Preceptors of Wat Chulamanee, “Traimat 67” Edition, and the “Charoen Yot 168” Medallion, B.E. 2567

The metal-casting ceremony for the sacred alloy (thet thong lo chanuan) was held on Sunday 7 July B.E. 2567 (2024) on the terrace before the marble ubosot of Wat Chulamanee, Bang Chang Subdistrict, Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province, to cast the sacred alloy for the temple’s sacred objects.

The sacred objects created from this alloy are the “two-faced Medallion of Preceptor Nueang Koviṭo and Preceptor Itthi Bhaddacaro”, the “Traimat 67” edition and the “Charoen Yot 168” medallion. The design boards set on easels within the ritual enclosure show the two preceptors on the obverse, with the inscriptions “Preceptor Nueang Koviṭo” and “Preceptor Itthi Bhaddacaro”, the year B.E. 2567, the words “lap phon phun thawi” around the rim, and the medallion’s size given as “3.9 cm tall including the loop, 2.7 cm wide”.

This set records the setting up of the ritual enclosure and the running of the sacred cord around the terrace before the ubosot, amid the rows of black Tao Wessuwan images; the open-air propitiation rite with the brahmin reciting the invocation and the ceremonial ensemble; the lighting of the victory candle; the offering of the midday meal; and the senior monks seated in meditation within the sala.

The central moment is the casting of the alloy — the founders set furnaces over gas cylinders in the middle of the terrace, stirring and ladling the metal, molten and glowing red, into the ingot molds laid out in rows, then prising the solidified alloy bars from the molds; the set also shows the heaps of alloy and the sprues cut from the medallions, as well as the finished two-faced medallions arranged on a golden tray — the fruit of the sacred alloy cast in this ceremony.

Photo Record of the Metal-Casting Ceremony for the Sacred Alloy