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Last Wednesday in late afternoon my wife's first cousin/sister passed away after a long illness. Both of them lived in a small one room apartment in Bangkok when they worked the bar scene. Pui was always very nice to me and since her English was quite good whenever the wife and me had problems with understanding each other she was there to help both of us. It was hard to look at her this past past year as she was looking quite bad, had a terrible cough and was dropping weight at an alarming rate.
She came back to Krasang six months ago so that she could be close to her family when the end came. This is the part of the story where the Thai funeral and Irish funeral share a lot of things in common. Having grown up for fifteen years in Ireland I had been to my share of funerals/wakes. You know the kind, the body stays in the home, usually in the bedroom. Family and friends come by, there is a lot of crying, eating, drinking to celebrate the life of the deceased. Priests come to the home and bless the body and give last rights.
Well that pretty much sums up what happened these past days in Krasang. After she passed away, Monks came to the home, blessed the body and conducted a service. Everybody from the village showed up, there was a ton of food and drink available, there was music. This went on for three days. On Saturday, the body was wrapped and there was long procession to the Temple for the creamation service. The heat was pretty much unbearable for me but all the Thai family members and friends did not seem to mind. At the Temple, there was a ceremony and the head Monk spoke and chanted. When that finished up the body was taken away and everybody headed back to the home for food, music and drink.
Over the course of this past week my wife has told me that her cousin/sister has been seen by family members, that she has talked with them. Now this news gave me quite a shock as I had never really understood the world of ghosts in Thai culture. My wife at night was very careful to say her prayers before getting into bed. She did not want her cousin/sister to come to her. It has been almost a week since her passing and there are still people talking about seeing her. Spooky to say the least.
This is all very new and mysterious to me. It seems that every week I learn something new about Thai culture and the Thai people. For me sometimes I think that I am growing up again, learning about life, making mistakes and hopefully maturing. I don't think this would be happening if I just lived in Thailand and was whore-monger. I took the plunge, met a great LB, got to know her, fell in love with her, married her and now I am seeing a part of this great country that is not open to most of us.
Take care guys, more to follow as time goes by and the adventures continue.
She came back to Krasang six months ago so that she could be close to her family when the end came. This is the part of the story where the Thai funeral and Irish funeral share a lot of things in common. Having grown up for fifteen years in Ireland I had been to my share of funerals/wakes. You know the kind, the body stays in the home, usually in the bedroom. Family and friends come by, there is a lot of crying, eating, drinking to celebrate the life of the deceased. Priests come to the home and bless the body and give last rights.
Well that pretty much sums up what happened these past days in Krasang. After she passed away, Monks came to the home, blessed the body and conducted a service. Everybody from the village showed up, there was a ton of food and drink available, there was music. This went on for three days. On Saturday, the body was wrapped and there was long procession to the Temple for the creamation service. The heat was pretty much unbearable for me but all the Thai family members and friends did not seem to mind. At the Temple, there was a ceremony and the head Monk spoke and chanted. When that finished up the body was taken away and everybody headed back to the home for food, music and drink.
Over the course of this past week my wife has told me that her cousin/sister has been seen by family members, that she has talked with them. Now this news gave me quite a shock as I had never really understood the world of ghosts in Thai culture. My wife at night was very careful to say her prayers before getting into bed. She did not want her cousin/sister to come to her. It has been almost a week since her passing and there are still people talking about seeing her. Spooky to say the least.
This is all very new and mysterious to me. It seems that every week I learn something new about Thai culture and the Thai people. For me sometimes I think that I am growing up again, learning about life, making mistakes and hopefully maturing. I don't think this would be happening if I just lived in Thailand and was whore-monger. I took the plunge, met a great LB, got to know her, fell in love with her, married her and now I am seeing a part of this great country that is not open to most of us.
Take care guys, more to follow as time goes by and the adventures continue.
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