Playing with the Dao: A "Pragmatic" Strategic View

A Thai Funeral

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The procession to the cremation ground.

In the back of the procession a truck with huge loudspeakers played Thai funeral music. The music was much as I had expected, not really sad, but slow and eerie. In the front of the procession five or so family members carried the ship, a banner, and the white human figure that represented the man's spirit. Kath was the official photographer so I was in luck: she called me her assistant so I could take all the photos I wanted. I also recorded some of the sounds. Later, my friend Sony was shocked to learn that I'd taped the funeral. She said that taping a funeral would anger the spirits who are present at such occasions. It was a gray, drizzly day. Kath, being from the United Kingdom, would have preferred a sunny day, but for me the gray day seemed quite appropriate for a funeral. It, along with the strange and otherworldly music, seemed to set the stage for someone's departure to another world. The fireworks and the generally upbeat mood, however, did not lend themselves to a sense of the sacred. But no problem, it's their ceremony and it belongs to their culture, not mine.

At the cremation site the monks lined up for another round of chanting, but this one was rather brief. A table was set with packages of orange robes (monk's attire) and gold-colored platters. A man with a microphone called the names of everyone present and invited them to offer a robe to the monks. A lady held the platter as the man next to her put one robe at a time on the platter. The person who had been called took the robe, placed it next to one of the monks, then waied and bowed. After I gave my robe to a monk I was handed an incense stick with a sort of flower made from a palm leaf. I wasn't sure what to do with it. Well, after the offering to the monks, everyone went to a table with a picture of the deceased and a silver bowl. Everyone waied and put the incense stick and "flower" into the bowl. Somjit's brother explained that giving robes to the monks and offering incense was intended to make merit, and to transfer the merit to Somjit's uncle, a sort of final gift to the deceased. Sometime later the school I taught at held an annual ceremony in which students gave food to the assembled monks. It was to make merit for the students who had died the previous year (with a student population of 4,000 there is usually at least one death in a given year.)

Someone taking the robes to offer the monks.

Finally it was time for the cremation. The coffin was placed on a pile of logs between concrete slabs. Several men removed the lid and the family members walked up to it for one last look at their deceased relative. One man took an axe and opened a coconut with it, then poured the water from the coconut over the body. After that the incense sticks from the bowl were dropped into the casket along with the flowers and white paper figure. Several bottles of what I assume to be lighter fluid were poured over the whole thing, at which point everyone backed away. What happened next utterly stunned me. How did they light the pyre you ask? With fireworks! Yes, some sort of Chinese rocket was fired down the wire. It set the pyre alight. Soon the coffin was blazing. Everyone went back to the house where the procession had started and washed their hands in a bucket of water before entering the house. With that, the funeral was over.

Experiencing Thai funerals and wakes were enlightening experiences. People can be so much alike and yet so different the world over. The cheerful atmosphere of some funerals I attended came as a bit of a shock, but it somehow made sense considering how different the Thai view of death is from the western view. And yet, the less cheerful wakes and funerals I found myself attending were strangely comforting. Societies the world over have found some way of viewing death as something other than a complete and total end. Yet no matter what the philosophy or the cultural norms, people everywhere mourn their losses and find sympathy for those who have lost someone close. Then they move on.

Robert Wilson is an English teacher in northern Thailand. Pictures of his travels can be seen at photos.yahoo.com/robert_92122.