I pointed the camera at Sao Chingcha and all the pigeons took off at once

I came to Wat Suthat again. Not that I had intended to, but I was walking around aimlessly and came across it again. There was a large square in front of the temple with a large gate towering. It looked like a torii gate in Japan, but it was not a torii gate. It is a giant swing called Sao Chingcha.

In the past, a ceremony was held in which a priest would ride on this giant swing and swing back and forth. It seems that this ritual was meant to allow Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, to show Shiva, also the god of destruction, the newly created world. However, I'm not sure what this meant. It seems to me that if Shiva were shown the newly created world, it would be destroyed immediately.

In any case, it must have been spectacular to see such a large swing back and forth. Unfortunately, due to a series of fatal accidents, the ceremony is no longer performed and the swing for people to ride is no longer attached. As a result, all that remains of the strange ritual is the structure stretching skyward. As I set up my camera, all the pigeons in the square took off at once, as if they were waiting for the moment I set up my camera.