The average age of the young men who are waiting their turn is somewhere in the early 20s. This is similar to what you might see in a tattoo shop in the West; a room full of young men waiting to get their first or second tattoo. A rite of passage in any culture, defining a moment in time. The big difference here is the magical nature of the designs and the status of the person doing the work. In any religion from Buddhism to Catholicism, priests are schooled, ordained intermediaries between two worlds; the sacred world of deep religious faith and the secular day to day world. In a very real way for the believers, priests have special powers to act as mediators and channels between a higher, intangible and complex religious entity like a God or Buddha and the common person.