The irony of The Sign’s Finale episode coinciding with Chinese New Year when it is the Year of the Wood Dragon, or in Thailand: The Year of the Naga is not fucking lost on me.
I’d like to think that Saint Suppanong looked at his yearly calendar, saw the dates, saw the next project and went “I’m about to blow people’s mind” and I respect that. 🫡
THE SIGN – IDOL FACTORY'S PHAYA SI SATTA NAKHARAT CEREMONY
If you were like me and a little mystified today by the various videos of Babe Tanatat, Heng Asavarid and Songjet Sarochinee all dressed up in naga finery and headed to some place of worship while Billy Patchanon goofed around them in civvies, here's an explainer.
Idol Factory held a Phaya Si Satta Nakharat Worship Ceremony at the Phaya Si Satta Nakharat shrine in Nakhon Phanom, way up in the northeast of Thailand earlier this afternoon. The actors were there to take part in it:
From what I can gather, this ceremony was to pay homage to the Great Naga of the Mekong. The event was held at 4.00pm Bangkok time today (12 January 2024.)
Aside from physical offerings, (some of) the actors playing nagas in The Sign (Babe, Heng and Songjet) also performed a dance as part of the ceremony:
The video of Babe, Heng and Songjet's dance performance can also be viewed on Twitter at this link here.
Billy sat out the dance though; I suppose as an actor playing a garuda it wouldn't have been appropriate or respectful (since nagas and garudas are enemies), but I'm just guessing here.
It shouldn't be surprising though if this were to be the case, since the naga and garuda storyline in The Sign is based on living cultural traditions in Thailand, and these are taken very seriously there indeed.