Wat Phra That

[eek]

Took a trip up to Wat Phra That yesterday afternoon. I generally go during weekdays, as it is quieter, but had an urge to visit.

When I arrived it was super busy (dont know if this is normal for a Sunday or not) and within the temple there were many monks and a ceremony was about to begin. I took a seat and within a short time the ceremony started with prayers being spoken and sung, and then candles next to the seated monks being lit. There was a lot of sacred string tied around the area like a cobweb and after the prayers a monk went over to some kind of press and made....something???

Does anyone know if this was a special ceremony or a regular event. Any explanation would be great.

__________

As a side note, there were a lot of Thais and foreigners with cameras/video cameras and i always wonder if the monks really dont mind this, esp during a ceremony. Many foreigners also have a habit of standing around wide mouthed and chatting. Not kneeling or being 'respectful', as such. Just blundering about. I know monks are patient and tolerant, but i wonder if this upsets them in some way. I just cannot imagine in the UK a church tolerating any tourist that comes in with a camera who walks around and clicks/chats away during a sermon and yet I see it here a lot. Is it not liked, but tolerated, or is it really not a problem? I personally cant help feeling it must be very insulting and disrespectful.

[Warrioroo]

Buddhist Lent (or something similar) today i think...so i guess they were preparing for that. I know my staff wanted the day off but its not really a proper public holiday! I guess banks and government are closed... any excuse.

[cmsally]

Start of Buddhist lent yesterday. Lay people normally visit the temple yesterday and ceremonies for the monks today , at least I think that's right?

Traffic jams at Wat Pa Pao (Shan temple) and a friend who was at Doi Suthep temple yesterday said many Shans there. Never realised so many lived in and around Chiang Mai.

I wonder if the monks using some sort of press was for a new batch of Jatukam

As a side note, there were a lot of Thais and foreigners with cameras/video cameras and i always wonder if the monks really dont mind this, esp during a ceremony. Many foreigners also have a habit of standing around wide mouthed and chatting. Not kneeling or being 'respectful', as such. Just blundering about. I know monks are patient and tolerant, but i wonder if this upsets them in some way. I just cannot imagine in the UK a church tolerating any tourist that comes in with a camera who walks around and clicks/chats away during a sermon and yet I see it here a lot. Is it not liked, but tolerated, or is it really not a problem? I personally cant help feeling it must be very insulting and disrespectful.

I've got one to top this. I was at a funeral a couple of years ago in the old city area. There were a couple of other Europeans there also (nothing unusual about that). It was the last day so ceremony ends up in crematorium of course. It was only there when I saw the other farangs going to view the corpse (something I normally pass on) and I asked the son of the deceased who they were; that I found out that they were just a couple of tourists who had wandered in at the start of the day! They had partaken in ceremonies, taken photos, lunched, joined someones transport to the crematorium, taken part in more ceremonies and viewed the corpse! Nobody even knew what their names were!

[eek]

!

Even then noone confronted the tourists? Did noone mind?!

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I am still really curious about the press. Wonder what was being made..

[realthaideal]

They call it Buddhist Lent for our sake, but Kao Pansaa is the way in Thai. It means the 'coming in of/for rain' and was originally started at a time when the Gatauma Buddha ordered his disciples to retreat to the monasteries during the rainy period as that is when all the fields are planted with rice, and the monks/ disciples should not trample the crops. During this time many people rededicate themselves to their spirituality by means of giving up some things of earthly delight like meat or alcohol etc, and this of course parallels Western ideas of having a 'Lent.' This past weekend was the big time for merit making and 'celebrating.' Three months from now will be 'Ook Pansaa,' the 'Coming out of/from the rainy season' holiday when monks will travel about more freely again.

All this is probably more eloquently explained in the Buddhism threads of the forum. But now you know the search topic names....

[eek]

thank you all.

Found good info on the net too, now that I know what the ceremony is about/called.

Still cant find anything about the 'press' though. I'll post if i find out, or if someone knows, would appreciate if you post here.