Monk Ordination Ceremony & Funeral - Thailand

Many Travel Agents sell a destination they have not travelled to, or for Thailand for instance, they may have had a holiday for a few weeks and travelled around a bit.

I had a travel agency on Koh Phangan in the early 90s and lived there for 7 years at that time.

I have been selling Thailand for 30 years and have also been married to a Thai for 22 years.

Therefore, when I am in Thailand, a large part of my time is spent in Thai communities where I am attending cultural events that most visitors don’t see, so I would like to share some of these insights and experiences here.

Monk Ordination Ceremony - Part 1

So, I have attended a few of these in the past for family members, but this time, we had 2 family members being ordained, an uncle and a nephew.

I always enjoy these events, because the best cooks in the community are brought in to prepare food for the monks. Once they have eaten, it's our turn and it is always delicious.

Day 1 of the ceremony is pretty much all day and starts with cutting the hair. Everyone queues up and takes 3 cuts, so by the time that is finished, the hair is very patchy and the prospective monk is only too happy to go and get his head shaved.

The ceremony on this day is preparing him to be ordained by the monks the following morning.

There is a part where he says goodbye to his previous life and all the family get tearful.

Then there are a few rituals that are performed, wishing the soon-to-be monk good luck.

Monk Ordination Ceremony - Part 2

So, we are up bright and early and off to the temple, dressed in our finest Thai-style clothes.

There are a lot more people here on this day and I am immediately directed to 'Kin Khao' (eat rice), which I am only too happy to do for my first meal of the day.

Day 2 begins with everyone queuing up to pour some scented water and flower petals over the soon-to-be monks. Most people just use a small cup but some pour whole bowls. He ends up drenched, but luckily it's not too cold in Thailand!

After a quick change into some clean, dry robes, the procession begins.

At the front family and friends dance a little jig, followed by the band, then the soon-to-be monks, more family and friends carrying temple regalia and offerings, followed by more well-wishers and dancers.

The prospective monks are carried on the shoulders of a friend or relative and it is important they are strong as they have to carry them around the temple 3 times and they can't stop or put them down. It tends to be hot and takes about 15 minutes.

After this, as they are lifted through the temple door, they throw a bag of coins behind them to the crowd which signifies giving up their wealth. Here we also throw a lot of wrapped coins to well-wishers which is a lot of fun and people scrabble around trying to pick up as many as possible.

In this temple hall the Ordination takes place.

It takes 1 to 2 hours and if you enter you can't leave until it is finished, so most people wait outside.

It is here that they remove the white robes and are bedecked in the saffron robes of a monk and supplied with begging bowls and anything else they will need.

At the end of this ceremony, they then join the other monks in the main temple hall for their first prayers, followed by the obligatory feast.

Then we all get to eat again!

The Funeral

The day after the Monk Ordination Ceremony, the family received the news in the late afternoon, that an Aunt had passed away.

Immediately, relatives rushed to put on some black clothes and then headed straight back to the temple to clean it, in preparation for the arrival of the coffin.

By 7pm that same evening, we were all back to the temple as all of the monks would begin the funeral process with prayers and we would pay our respects to the immediate family members.

The actual funeral and cremation would take place 4 days later, but until then, some relatives would sleep each night close to the coffin.

On the day of the funeral, we arrived at the temple around midday.

I was then told that 70 monks would be at the funeral, which surprised me as I'd never seen so many monks in one place before and these monks were clearly coming from several other temples.

Again, a funeral is a community event, and like the Ordinations and Weddings, hundreds of people attend.

The cremation takes place just behind where the coffin had been.

After again paying respects to the immediate family, we left the temple and then went to their home for drinks in the evening.