8.

Beetle Fighting

Photo credit: Travel Journals.net www.traveljournals.net

Beetle Battlefield For generations people in the North of the country have taken part in a rather unusual pastime which involves catching and training small black bugs which are natural brawlers and never shy away from a fight. Saiarun Pinaduang As the rain stops falling and the cool season approaches, people of all ages in the northern provinces enjoy one of their favourite pastimes - traditional beetle fighting. A showdown between two battling rivals always captures the attention of beetle enthusiasts. The kwang, a hard-winged Hercules beetle of the rhinoceros beetle family, is regarded by locals as having the true fighting spirit. The number of beetles around is also a litmus test on the health of the environment. The kwang is commonly found in the northern parts of Thailand where traditional beetle fights are held annually. There are many varying types of rhinoceros beetle, but those picked for fighting are kwang song - the large male beetles with long, pointed horns. The kwang e-lum is the hornless female, which is usually used to spur the males into battling for her. According to a study of the beetle by Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, the beetles spend eight months between the cool season and the beginning of the rainy season from November through to July growing from caterpillars underground into beetles. A fully-grown, hard-winged beetle then emerges. During this period, male beetles fight to mate with females. After mating and producing new beetles, they die. The beetles usually live on trees, particularly bamboo. Their diet includes dewdrops, bamboo shoots, rotten wood and sugarcane. During a beetle fight, a stick called a mai pun is used to incite the males and warm them up for battle. During the cool season in the North, people rise early and go out to gather the beetles in the forests. The beetles they catch are used to lure other beetles out of hiding so they can be caught. People will tie a kwang with short horns to a piece of sugarcane and place it in front of a house to lure beetles with long horns, such as the kwang song. Wisut Chainarun, an MP for Phayao, a forest trekker and a kwang aficionado, shared some thoughts about the popular pastime of northern people.

"It is local wisdom and instills some discipline into children during the beetle fighting season," he said. "Children who wake up early stand a better chance of finding a decent fighting beetle. Those who sleep late and get up late may not even find one. "Getting up early will benefit people's health. People can soak up the warm sun and exercise during the cool season," Mr Wisut said. The beetles are easy to take care of and can be found everywhere in the North. He said the tradition of holding beetle fights has been passed on for generations and beetle fighting was originally intended to be a form of entertainment rather than for gambling. He rejected the notion that kwang trainers were gamblers. Beetle fighting is popular among locals because the beetles are easy to find and the tools required for the fights can be easily made. Prasit Jindakham, a kwang trainer, said the trainers of fighting beetles in the North have grouped together in clubs to preserve the traditional sport. Beetle fighting is a favourite pastime in the northern provinces. For a bout, an area about one metre long made of soft wood such as a jute plant is prepared as a ring. The "battlefield" has a square hole in the middle where the female kwang e-lum is kept to incite the males into battle. A tool called a mai pun - a stick about the size of a pencil - is needed for trainers to control their beetles during the fight. The stick has a pointed tip with a small piece of metal fitted in the middle to produce various kinds of sounds when it is spun. The trainer makes the sounds to tell the beetle how to behave during the fight. The rules are that if a beetle runs away from its rival three times it loses. The survival of the rhinoceros beetle depends largely on the richness of the forests, which are their natural habitat. Kwang beetles in the wild are now in danger as Thailand's forests are increasingly being destroyed. Although the beetles are being increasingly bred and raised on farms, they do not compare with those caught in the wild, which are physically stronger.