The "Navel" of Chiangmai WAT CHEDI LUANG IS LOCATED directly in the center of Chiangmai. It is one of the original temples of the city, having been built in the mid-14^th century, shortly after the founding of Chiangmai by King Saen Muang Ma. The Chedi that towers into the sky at this temple is a magnificent testament to Lanna architecture and art and, as such, is one of the top tourist attractions in Chiangmai. Wat Chedi Luang, however, is also home to another Chiangmai monument, the "Pillar of the City," a totem used in ancient Thai fertility rites starting with the arrival of the Thai's from southwestern China in the 9^th to 13^th centuries, and continuing to this day.

The Pillar of the City is a real pillar, usually made of wood, but sometimes of stone. This pillar is an ancient Thai totem that is still highly significant today. Exactly when and how it originated is not known. There is a legend that a spirit came down from the heavens and gave the people a pillar to protect them, but a more likely explanation is that the pillar was erected as a ritual center for agrarian fertility rites in ancient Thai towns and kingdoms. Many old city pillars have been unearthed in recent decades, and all have been located in the center of the old cities and adjacent to the seat of power in a kingdom or chiefdom. Numerous city pillars have been found at the sites of the ancient Tai Nanzhao Kingdom, near Dali in Yunnan Province, China. It is believed that the Tai's brought the tradition with them when they migrated southward into Southeast Asia.

In the North, these fertility rites are called "Inthakin", a term from the ancient Pali Buddhist language, which literally means: "City Pillar." In central Thailand this ceremony is called: "Sao Lug Muang," and in Thailand's Northeast, "Boon Bung Fai" or Rocket Festival. These three regional ceremonies have different names, and to some extent are ritualized in different ways, but all three are the annual fertility rites of the Thai's. In the central region, the pillar itself is also referred to as: "Sao Lug Muang," meaning "Pillar of the City," but in the North, people more often use the term: "Sa-Deu Muang," which means "The Belly Button of the City."

The center of the North's Inthakin rite is Chiangmai. It is a momentous event, held at the site of Chiangmai's City Pillar on the grounds of Wat Chedi Luang, because the temple itself marks the exact center of Chiangmai. In the 14^th century, the original structure of Wat Chedi Luang was actually four separate and smaller Buddhist temples, all situated within 50 meters of the original site of the first Chiangmai City Pillar, which was erected in 1296 A.D. That pillar was located in the exact epic enter of old Chiangmai ,just beyond the present north wall of Wat Chedi Luang.

Today, Chiangmai's City Pillar stands in a walk-in spirit house at the fore of Wat Chedi Luang, on the left just inside the front gate. In comparison to the huge 14^th century Phra Chedi Luang that reaches into the sky in the western sector of the temple grounds, the City Pillar seems small. But to a million or so Thai's throughout Chiangmai Province, it is a much larger than life symbol for the annual fertility rites held each year in the 8^th lunar month of the Lanna calendar, which is in May or June.

During the seven-day Inthakin period, more than 100,000 farmers and tradesmen from all parts of the North are expected to participate in Inthakin. One only has to see a single evening at Wat Chedi Luang, when the crowds overflow into the streets outside, and one has to wait for hours just to catch a glimpse of the City Pillar, to understand and appreciate how very important this Thai totem, and what it represents, truly are. Northern people pay homage to the City Pillar during the Inthakin period and make merit, not to Buddha and not to any Buddhist inspired holy day or event, but rather to the City Pillar and the Spirit of the Rain. This is northern Thailand's true fertility rite.

The people of the North bring flowers, incense and candles as offerings and place them before the pillar, asking for abundant rainfall for the coming year and for healthy, vigorous crops and bountiful harvests. Groups from all over come every day during the seven-day period. Many of these groups parade through Chiangmai, carrying offerings past Thapae Gate, the traditional entry way to Chiangmai from the Ping River to the east, along the road to the Pillar at Wat Chedi Luang.

Inthakin is a rite that the northern Thai's take very seriously. The City Pillar is an integral part of the northern Thai culture and appeasing the Rain Spirit is a feature of animism that is still very much alive in the northern Thai psyche. The ceremony invokes blessings of peace, happiness and prosperity for the city and its residents. On the final day, the rites of Thamboon Muang, the merit making ceremony, are observed at each of the four gates to the city, and corners of the ancient walls inside the Khu Muang city moat.