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Mae Hong Song's Poi Sang Long Festival - where hundreds of young boys with heavy makeup are treated like little princes on horseback - is probably the country's most famous Buddhist ordination.

But beyond the painted faces and dark glasses, the folks in Sukhothai "think bigger" every April as they give their sons to the Buddhist cause. The horse is swapped for the elephant, and the result is as exotic and spectacular as the pachyderms themselves who parade with the boys on their backs from the villages to the temple.

"Buad Chang", which translates roughly as elephantback ordination, takes place every summer at Baan Had Siaw - a Thai-Phuan community in Sukhothai province. The festival draws hundreds of visitors from across the country, eager to see the youngsters on elephant back.

"Buad Chang is the biggest celebration in our village," says Sanga Guedyai, a ThaiPhuan man in his sixties. "Unique as it's exotic, the procession of decorated elephants carries the boys from their houses to the temple for the Five Precepts, the Buddhist codes of morality."

The concept of the festival com¬bines the practicalities of everyday life and the Jakata stories.

Elephants once helped the vil¬lagers on their farms, carrying food and other goods before losing their jobs to mechanisation.

The gentle creatures also made a great contribution to Lord Buddha's enlightenment. When king Wesandorn (Lord Buddha's earlier life as the ultimate giver) returned to his crown after a long stay in the forest, it was an elephant who carried him back to the palace. The elephant is also a symbol of the North - a gateway to Nirvana.

Naturally enough, the good folk of Had Siaw would far rather have an elephant than a horse carry to their precious boys to the consecration.

This year's festival saw 21 young boys climbing on the elephants' backs and following in the foot¬prints of the Lord Buddha.

For three days, the small village of Had Siaw was packed with thou¬sands of Thai-Phuan people, as happy villagers joined the brass band and tomtom ensembles on the streets.

On the "Day of Suk Dib", the first day of ordination, Thai-Phuan women don their best dresses and roam the neighbourhood, as the brass band pump out hard, fast rhythms that have everyone dancing. That parade is the wakeup call for the house parties that are hosted by the families of the boys.

The next day, the boys are woken early and grandparents, fathers and mothers and other relatives get down to the task of trimming hair and shaving heads.

Ironically, the passage to peaceful moments in the temple cannot be completed without a trip to the beauty salon. There, the local makeup artist paints the face of each boy before helping him to dress in a colourful costume. Each is then handed a pair of dark glasses. The ceremony will transform them from common boys to novices, so the shades will help them see things differently. The boys are then crowned with flowers to complete their transformation.

Meanwhile, over in the forest clearing, the elephants are also being treated to a party.

Their mahouts, along with friends of the novicestobe, are busy writing messages and painting colourful graphics all over their immense bodies. That task completed, it's time to dress and the pachyderms are decked out with colourful scarves, tinkling bells and whitered yarn.

In the afternoon, to a cacophony of trumpets and drums, the elephants head out to Had Siaw temple. The ceremony kicks off at a small shrine, where all pray to the spirit of the old village. Then, the young boys move to the ordination hall to observe and take the Five Precepts from the abbot.

Later in the day, as they return from the temple, the procession spreads out around the small town. The boys travel through the market, green rice paddies and stop at the Yom River.

The ordination is completed the following day and the boys give up their colourful costumes in favour of plain saffron robes, assuming and a peaceful life as young novices.