Insider info: the low down on Jatukarm

The other day at one of the festivals at our village temple I stumbled upon a rickety old pavilion filled with dozens of styro boxes surrounded by copious amounts of string, being held by none other then The Buddha himself...well, icon him anyway. I always thought Jatukarms were made in secret dark holes where mystical beings came to play. I'd heard chanting going on in my visits to Nakhon Si Thammarat the original home of Jatu, but had never actually witnessed the creation of them. This little deserted workshop we found was really quite fascinating..I'm still not sure if I committed the ultimate sin by walking around there but since I was with a Buddhist, Thai, former monk (my husband) I took the chance that I was within forgivable realms.

I assume the white net over the boxes that you can only just see is to catch all the gecko pooh! Ooh blaspheemer, only mussing wit cha. Really though, the white cloth (in my interpretation) acts as a protective canopy over any highly revered icon throughout Thailand. The machines are for pressing the amulets into the circular shape.

But now for the really naughty bit... I peeked inside one of the boxes! There must have been thousands of Jatukarms filling these boxes. I can tell you my heart was palpitating being so sinful and I did flee from there not a moment after this pic was taken with guilty haste. I didn't even touch them (as someone else in my presence may have!) but guilt by association damn it, it's a force to be reckoned with and I shan't have bad karma thrust upon me!