Giant Swing
Columpio gigante
Giant Swing (Thanon Bamrung Muang, Rattanakosin, Bangkok 10200) – located near the Wat Suthat temple, this 27-meter-high teak frame was once the focus of a religious ceremony held every year in December after the rice harvest. After undergoing several renovations, the original Giant Swing, dating from 1784, was replaced in 2004 with a new one crafted entirely from golden teak. The construction of the new swing was a complex process of hand-carving, paint undercoating and coating by master craftsmen and involved numerous parties from civil engineers to the Forestry Department to Brahmin priests.
In the past, during the Brahmin ‘thanksgiving’ ceremony celebrated every year after the main rice harvest in mid-December, young men would ride the swing high in the air, suspended 24 metres from the ground when in full swing, and try to grab a bag of silver coins with their teeth. Some fairly severe injuries and a few deaths led to the dangerous swing ceremony’s discontinuation in 1932, but the swing continues to attract both worshippers and tourists alike.