Almost 2 months ago, on December 4, we celebrated the birthday (82nd?) of Thailand's king, the country's most beloved public figure. Classes for most of the day were canceled and parents came to watch the festivities. Monks from a nearby temple arrived in the morning for a sort of blessing ceremony in the school's open air auditorium.
Monks sit on the stage facing the students who are supposed to be listening quietly.
In actuality most of them are chatting, talking on their cell phones, biting each other, etc.
merit-making ceremony
one of the monks uses a bundle of sticks to sprinkle water
on the gathered teachers and students
kids in pink offer chocolate milk and ramen noodles to the monks
Colors carry a certain significance here, especially colored shirts. Each day of the week is assigned a hue [Sunday = Red / Monday = Yellow / Tuesday = Pink / Wednesday = Green / Thursday = Orange / Friday = Blue / Saturday = Purple] so on any given day here you'll see a disproportionate number of people walking around town in that day's color. The exceptions lately, however, are Sunday and Monday because of the deep political division between the Yellow Shirts and the Red Shirts. In 2007 the 80 year old king was hospitalized and thousands of Thais gathered in Bangkok to pray for his recovery. Apparently, when he was released and stepped out of the hospital he was wearing a pink shirt and blazer (some of the teachers here believe that a Thai astrologer had predicted that wearing pink would help the king heal and enjoy a long life). thus... pink is now the king's color here. And for the birthday celebration we all donned our pink apparel for school as a sign of respect.
Teacher Ryan and Folk show off their pink shirts
Monks sit on the stage facing the students who are supposed to be listening quietly.In actuality most of them are chatting, talking on their cell phones, biting each other, etc.
After the blessing ceremony (most of which I still don't understand), I was ushered over to stand around the outside of the school courtyard lined with long rows of tables laden with non-perishable foods (dry rice, cup-o-noodles, UHT milk boxes, hard candies, wafer cookies). On the inside of the square the monks walked single file along the perimeter as the kids and teachers reached out to drop the foods into their silver bowls.
[This tradition of ทำบุญ tumboon, or merit-making, is something I see daily here, and most obviously on holidays. Families, schools, businesses, carefully prepare trays with bottles of water or soda, a vase of flowers, bowls of rice and plates of sliced fruit or candies or any number of foods. The trays and other offerings (usually buckets of food, money and other necessities) are either presented to monks who drive around in pickups collecting alms or set in front of a spirit house. The thai teachers at school, from what I could gather, said that these offering are not charity. Instead they're an opportunity for Buddhist laypeople to show humbleness and respect to Buddhist monks and to "make merit." Merit is a kind of energy or force which helps ensure goodness and blessings in all aspects of one's life, I think.]
[This tradition of ทำบุญ tumboon, or merit-making, is something I see daily here, and most obviously on holidays. Families, schools, businesses, carefully prepare trays with bottles of water or soda, a vase of flowers, bowls of rice and plates of sliced fruit or candies or any number of foods. The trays and other offerings (usually buckets of food, money and other necessities) are either presented to monks who drive around in pickups collecting alms or set in front of a spirit house. The thai teachers at school, from what I could gather, said that these offering are not charity. Instead they're an opportunity for Buddhist laypeople to show humbleness and respect to Buddhist monks and to "make merit." Merit is a kind of energy or force which helps ensure goodness and blessings in all aspects of one's life, I think.]
merit-making ceremony
one of the monks uses a bundle of sticks to sprinkle wateron the gathered teachers and students
kids in pink offer chocolate milk and ramen noodles to the monksColors carry a certain significance here, especially colored shirts. Each day of the week is assigned a hue [Sunday = Red / Monday = Yellow / Tuesday = Pink / Wednesday = Green / Thursday = Orange / Friday = Blue / Saturday = Purple] so on any given day here you'll see a disproportionate number of people walking around town in that day's color. The exceptions lately, however, are Sunday and Monday because of the deep political division between the Yellow Shirts and the Red Shirts. In 2007 the 80 year old king was hospitalized and thousands of Thais gathered in Bangkok to pray for his recovery. Apparently, when he was released and stepped out of the hospital he was wearing a pink shirt and blazer (some of the teachers here believe that a Thai astrologer had predicted that wearing pink would help the king heal and enjoy a long life). thus... pink is now the king's color here. And for the birthday celebration we all donned our pink apparel for school as a sign of respect.
Teacher Ryan and Folk show off their pink shirts.
