Guest Posted October 16, 2001 Report Share Posted October 16, 2001 Hey Guys - Another interesting aspect on the way Thais look at life and death - one night a few years ago a jealous boyfriend walked into a Thai restaurant and blew away his girlfriend. Shocking, no doubt, even though such shooting deaths have occurred several times before in our community. A few days later I was hanging out at a pool hall owned by some buds of mine. They had a sign in the window telling everybody about upcoming events. There was a plug for the band scheduled to play that weekend at the same restaurant where the murder took place. And at the bottom in big letters was the closer: PARTY MUST GO ON! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted October 17, 2001 Report Share Posted October 17, 2001 All I can say on the matter is that the Thai funeral that I went to seemed to be a pretty jovial affair which I found to be far better than the western funerals. I am in the UK at the moment due to my Father dying suddenly last week. I have been dealing with funeral directors all week and however easy they try to make it for you it is still a very disturbing process. The funeral is tomorrow and I wish it was going to be a Thai style one, but tradition is tradition I guess. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2001 Report Share Posted October 17, 2001 Originally posted by Roger: "All I can say on the matter is that the Thai funeral that I went to seemed to be a pretty jovial affair which I found to be far better than the western funerals." Thais, or most Asians in general, cope much better with the inevitability of death than Westerners. We always try to dodge the issue, whereas Buddhists or Hindus usually face death with a good degree of equanimity. There's something we can learn here. Reminds me of a song of George Harrison's called "The Art of Dying". An art indeed ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Hi guys, Just dug up this old thread after a search and wondered if anybody has anything else to add now. My GF has just been through this for her father. She is down at the wat today "tam bon" on the seventh day after his death. I would love to know more detail about exactly what has been going on. Seems like there was a "vigil" for three days, then the cremation. She talked about changing her clothes after the cremation, so presumably some sort of nun's robes involved? Any info? Thanks, khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogul Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 my father-in-law died a couple of years ago. as stated in other posts, the funerals are a time of sorrow, but also sanuk (not THAT kind of sanuk). we hired a morlam band and a ligay (?) troupe on consecutive nights. cremation was on the 4 day, if i remember correctly. othre times just sitting around the wat, talking to friends and relatives (her, not me), so really rather boring. but it was an educational experience. i was raised a buddhist; been to many funerals in 'merika and the chants are similar. the string tying and water pouring deals, i was not familiar with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longwoodguy74 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Chanchao said:I've mistaken funerals for regular parties at times, only to find out during the second glass of whiskey I was offered what the occaision was. (Imagine crashing someone's funeral-party) been there, done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Four years ago at my young bro in laws funeral in bkk a tourist boat pulled up at the temple to feed fish and a few wondered up to the temple to observe/snoop, it was very obviously a very somber occasion and not mistaken as a party, and I dont for a minute recall a party feeling for a minute. I wanted to tell them to clear off but didn't want to cause a scene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Oddly, in Nepal, a big tourist attraction is the river side wherethey creamate the bodies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longwoodguy74 Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 Old Hippie said:Oddly, in Nepal, a big tourist attraction is the river side wherethey creamate the bodies... a lesser tourist attraction can be found in tibet, where bodies are chopped up and left for the birds, aka 'sky burial'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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