A cremation in Thailand

Last week I experienced a Thai cremation. Not something special in Thailand, but I feel like it happened here. The victim of a motorcycle accident lived for a while after hospital treatment, but suddenly his head hurt again and he was admitted to the hospital where he died after a few days.

The cremation ceremony took place in Bangkok in the vicinity of Dan Sam Rong. It was supposed to start on time in the morning, but no clear time was given. The coffin was set up in a room, but the few people present were waiting outside under the roof. Around 8 o'clock a few young monks with tattoos arrived, who took place on a platform and first ate the food brought by the family of the deceased. Then followed a prayer ritual. After an hour this was ended and people could come back in the afternoon.

In the afternoon on time to the Wat Dam Sampong where the farewell ritual continued around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Before that, a mentally handicapped monk was neatly dressed by Wat staff and placed on a chair in the room. Only the widow and a few people entered the room; the others remained outside on the chairs. During the ritual of one monk, more visitors arrived. Again, there was no time indication here. It was very disturbing that some people continued to talk and laugh. After the service, an artificial flower was handed out, which could be deposited in a bowl after walking past the coffin. Then everyone could leave.

It was striking that apparently due to the construction of this Wat it was not possible to walk around the building 3 times and that there was no crematorium. Perhaps it could have caused a nuisance due to the dense buildings and next to the school, so that the deceased would still be taken to a crematorium at a later date. A simple, densely populated neighborhood where rickshaws were still used!

However, I have experienced the shortest cremation service in Pattaya, where the visitors were given a cup of water and could leave after 5 minutes without a ritual or speech.