Festival For The Recently Deceased

We deal with the discomfort of our awareness of our mortality in a variety of ways. Divergent religions and cultures provide an assortment of rites designed to honor the deceased and help to acknowledge the inevitability of death. Religious ceremonies, while dissimilar in appearance, all share a basic ingredient; the hope of an afterlife and the continuation of our id. The Mexican culture believes we die three times: Once when our heart stops, again when our bodies are interred and finally, when there is no one left on the planet who remembers us. Judy King, an expat living in Mexico, wrote an interesting explanation of the history and practice of Mexico’s renowned celebration, The Days of the Dead. Here is a link to her LOS DIAS DE LOS MUERTOS.

The second event in A’s Krabi holiday took place at a country temple ceremony intended to honor and connect to deceased spirits whose bodies died in the past year. It began with a procession from the village to the temple grounds.

The drum, gong and harmonica corps.

Like fêtes such as this around the world, special foods are prepared for both the living and the dead.

Money trees also abound and every person who adds a leaf of money to a tree receives merit from the spirits.

Buddhist nuns wear white robes.

After the ceremony inside the temple, in which the gifts are presented to the deceased spirits, the spirits in turn, return the offered gifts to the living. The offerings are then taken outside to the grounds and laid out, where members of the congregation sift through them and take what they want. They are now gifts from the spirits and not from other members of the community. (I believe the spirits hang on to the money though and charge it to the care of the monks who manage the temple.)

The pillars inside the temple hold the ashes of deceased villagers.

Crematorium on the temple grounds.

Krabi Tiger Cave Temple

One encounters unusual road traffic when you head north from Phuket.

A’s recent trip to Krabi with our friend, Pim, began with a stop at the Tiger Cave Temple, also known as Wat Tham Sua. It is one of the most famous temples in southern Thailand. The monks live in a jungle valley contained by a warren of natural caves and share their habitat with numerous monkeys. The temple teaches Vipassana (insight meditation), based on the earliest Buddhist texts. The central cave displays peculiar photos of internal organs and split cadavers. These are intended to remind monks of the transitory nature of the body and to help them center on spiritual matters.

There is a 1,272-step climb up steep steps to see the “Footprint of the Buddha” and a large, golden Buddha statue. A and Pim didn’t attempt the grueling climb in the high humidity, but they climbed the first level to get pictures of the monk’s living quarters, which are smaller than the average tool shed found behind most American homes.

There are many statues of long-dead, revered monks in the entrances to the caves. These monks are Buddhist versions of saints and most Thai homes have small altars dedicated to them.

The monk's skeleton honors the monk and also reminds us of our temporal nature. Malas, Buddhist prayer beads, are also fashioned out of bone from the skulls of deceased monks. They are considered especially auspicious because of the thousands of hours of meditation the skulls experienced.

The young monks on the cell phones in the photos below somehow don't fit into the notion of an austere life of spiritual contemplation. Who do you suppose they call and what do they talk about? Nirvana? I suppose, considering the many hours people spend staring at the screens of their cellphones, it marginally qualifies as a new form of meditation.

A and Pim did a little exploring at entrances to the caves, but didn't venture into the dark recesses.

The monk sitting to the right of the Buddha statue gives an idea of its scale.

These monkeys will wash your car and check the air in your tires for 100 baht (about 3 dollars).

You pay him.


This unusual shrine is no doubt for the purpose of protecting travelers.

A very elegant Buddha statue carved out of a single limestone block.

And from here, A and Pim continued on to Pim's hometown for a religious festival and a wedding.