Thai Funerals with a Different Feeling

Less than a week since I arrived and I have already gone to a funeral. The Thai funeral is not just a family and friends thing, but the entire community is welcomed to come to talk, laugh and pay respect to the deceased. The funeral was for an older woman that passed away who was well known in the community and the village of Mae Tang. The gathering began around 9PM at what is like a community center, and there were at least 100+ people of all ages there. I went with a group that included Izume and Lawson, the other two UO volunteers and two house moms for the children. We found a seat at a table among people the house moms knew. We were served food, sticky rice, water and chocolate crackers. After this night, the sticky rice has become one of my favorite meals because of its flavor and also what it is cooked in. Sticky rice can be cooked in a banana leaf or in bamboo, as it was at the funeral, it is then cooked over an open fire. I do not know how it works, but all you do when it is finished cooking is peel back the bamboo and tear off a piece of the sticky rice; it is one food that does live up to its name. Other than the food being very good, the whole idea behind a Thai funeral is that it gives the family of the deceased a chance to mourn their relative. The events go on for about five to seven days, and the number of people that help put this on is at least 40 because while some are cooking the meal, others are serving everyone, some are cleaning up and then it starts all over again. After the eating and socializing is all finished, people pay respect to a shrine every night by lighting incense and saying a prayer. The shrine can be large or small depending on the wealth of the family and the family also pays for a gift, in this case, fifty fold up chairs, as merit to the monks at the temple that the shrine will be taken to and later burned. The merit is from the Buddhist religion, by giving merit you or other family members will come back as something higher in your next life. Unique only to northern Thailand was a cloth or flag that has a cloth ladder sewn on to help guide the sprits to heaven. We spent about three hours at the Thai funeral where we paid our respects and said our goodbyes. Even though I did not know the deceased I was able to meet new people that welcomed me into their community as one of their own.