Death Be Not Private - A Lao Loum Experience

A Lao Loum Woman Mourns Her Brother's Death

John Donne in his poem, "Death Be Not Proud", wrote:

          "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
           Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; ..."

Here in Northeast Thailand in the region called "Isaan" a similar attitude prevails and from my personal experiences I would add "Death Be Not Private"  In the Lao Loum culture most often a person will die surrounded by family and friends.  One certainty is that their funeral will be a large public event.

On Thursday I attended the third funeral ritual of this month.  One of Duang's uncles, her father's oldest brother, died at the age of 77. He was a special man. Paujon Veeboonkul (Wirboonkun - Thai names can have several English spellings) had performed our "wedding" http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2009/01/19-august-2008-isaan-weddings.html and also officiated at the blessing of our home http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2009/01/14-september-2008-isaan-house-warming.html  and http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2009/01/17-september-2008-spirit-houses.html

Kuhn Paujon Conducting Our Wedding Ritual

When he became ill two years ago, it was determined by another Brahman that the problem was due to Kuhn Paujon not being fully sanctioned to perform the spirit house installation,  http://hale-worldphotography.blogspot.com/2010/10/having-answers-faith.html. The spirits were upset with him.   At the time the Brahman priest stated that Duang's uncle would die within 2 weeks if the spirit houses were not relocated and properly dedicated.  Duang had the ritual performed and her uncle lived almost 2 years more to the day.  Again, as I have written several times before, I do not judge or proselytize; I merely share what I have observed and experienced.

Kuhn Paujon was a school teacher, a very respected profession amongst the Lao Loum people.  Teachers and Policemen are professions that are held in high regard by the people of Isaan.  These are uniformed positions that although not commonly attained can be attained by the children of the subsistence farmers of Isaan.  Duang's uncle's only son is a policeman and so are two of his grandsons - a source of pride for the family.

Kuhn Paujon besides teaching 14 year old students, was a Brahman priest.  He was familiar with the various religious rituals of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Animist faiths.  His knowledge and services were in constant use for weddings, births, sickness, house blessings, deaths, and all occasions where it was deemed necessary to placate the spirit world.  He had been a Monk for five years before he got married.  After ten years of marriage he had a son.

Duang's uncle was special in another way - he had two daughters.  One daughter was the child of villagers who were not financially able to raise the baby.  At birth, the parents signed papers for Kuhn Paujon and his wife to adopt the baby.  His other daughter is Duang's older sister.  When Duang was born, her family was too poor to raise two children.  Duang's uncle and his wife took in Duang's older sister and raised her as their own child.  Such is the way it is in Isaan, then and even today.

For this and many other reasons, Kuhn Paujon was highly respected and revered in the local community.  He spent the past two months in the hospital ding of what I suspect was colorectal cancer.  His bill for the hospital stay was 140,000 Baht ($4,666  USD).  In Thailand there is no national health coverage and her uncle did not have health insurance.  Family members, friends, and neighbors have contributed to help pay the bill.

While in the hospital, Kuhn Paujon was not alone.  Daily his personal needs were met by attentive family members. Part of the Lao Loum tradition is to have a death watch hopefully that at the time of passing the dying person will hear words of encouragement according to my wife along the lines of " OK, you go now.  Good luck to you.  You not go down down you go up.  Buddha take care of you  You not think too much.  You poor now.  Maybe you come back soon better maybe come back as King. Good Luck to you".  When he died, his body was transported back to his home in Nongdaeng Village to lie in state for three days.  Since Duang was so close to her uncle, she stayed at the village for the entire ritual.  I remained at home but attended the cremation ritual on Thursday.

So why am I writing once again about a Lao Loum funeral?  I am writing once again about a funeral here in Isaan because the ritual and experience here is neither private or an event to be dreaded.  This is very foreign to me and my American experience.  I am fond of quoting the Buddhist attitude towards death as is best expressed by Wade Davis, a renowned Canadian Anthropologist and contributor to National Geographic documentaries. In his documentary series "Light At the End of the World"  he states "The Buddhists spend all their lives getting ready for a moment that we spend most of our lives pretending does not exist, which is the moment of our death"

In Isaan death is a milestone of life which is familiar to and accepted by all from a very early age. The conclusion of this life, which for many has been very difficult, presents the hope as well as opportunity for a better and easier life in the future - another step towards enlightenment.

I share these funeral ritual experiences to provide a perspective on the matter that is most likely not available to many of this blog's readers.  It is not a morbid curiosity or obsession that motivates me.  The blogs on the Lao Loum funeral ritual are documentation on the inevitability of death for all of us, how common and often that it occurs, and how other cultures deal with the event.

On the morning of the cremation, people arrived at the family home in Nongdaeng Village.  One of the first things that they do after giving wais (prayer type gestures of respect and greeting) to the tables of guests who are seated, drinking and eating is to go to a table next to the public address system.  Seated at the table next to a man that is performing a running commentary over the top of recorded ethnic music is a man with a ledger and pen.  Cash donations are given to the man who dutifully records the name of the contributor as well as the amount of cash donated.  The commentator uses the ledger to announce the arrival of the mourner as well as their cash donation.  The cash will be donated to the local Monks in the name of the deceased, the selected person who presents the donation, as well as the donor. Some people who do not have cash to donate will contribute sacks of sticky rice, the stable food for the Lao Loum people. These contributions are also recorded in the ledger and dutifully announced to the public.  The rice donations are made and kept in front and to the side of the coffin inside of the home.  Periodically the smaller sacks are consolidated  into a large 55 kg bag.  The rice is given to the local Wat in the name of the deceased and donor for the Monks to distribute as needed to very poor people. Costs for the food, drink, and other funeral expenses are paid from family savings, bank loans, family donations, friend donations, neighbor donations and insurance payments.

A Villager Places A Donation of Sticky Rice In Front of the Coffin

Funerals are grand social events in the Lao Loum culture.  It is an opportunity for people to get together and to be seen.  For most it seems to be also an opportunity to be heard. There is a great deal of social pressure to participate in the ritual.  One of the reasons that the cremation takes place three days after the death is to allow family and friends to arrive from distant locales.  The funerals, at times, are not silent and somber events.  There is a great deal of talk, at times even during the religious chanting.  There is typically a great deal of drinking - beer and Lao Lao (Lao version of moonshine whiskey).  Sometimes, but not at this funeral, there is also gambling. However the funerals are always dignified.

Mourners Inside of Kuhn Paujon's Home

Mourners typically wear black or dark clothing at a funeral with the exception of teachers who wear their khaki colored uniforms.  At this funeral there were some woman dressed in white.  We are approaching the end of Buddhist Lent.  During Buddhist Lent some females make special merit by wearing white while making merit and attending religious retreats at the Wat.  My wife did not attend a retreat but she wore white clothing each night while praying before bed.

The Abbott, Paujon's Brother, Recites Buddhist Scripture from a Buddhist Scripture Book

Approximately 350 people including government officials attended the cremation ritual. Children of all ages also attended and participated in the event. Funerals are not life events that children are sheltered from. Lao Loum funerals are rituals just as important and public as weddings, Monk ordinations, and celebrations of birth are for the individual as well as the community.  Funerals are reminders of the fate that awaits all of us.  Funerals are reminders to the Lao Loum of the circle of life and the quest for enlightenment.

Duang's Aunt Pours Water As Part of Merit Making Ritual for her Husband

Part of the standard Buddhist Merit Making ritual involves pouring of water while the Monks chant.  The pouring of the water is a method of transferring merit to the spirits of those who can not participate in the ritual.  After the ritual is completed the water is reverently poured slowly at the base of trees and plants that are around the Wat.  I usually can tell what tree to select because they are often marked with decorations indicating that a spirit dwells within the tree.

Led by Monks Holding Disaisin, Procession Departs the Home For the Wat

After a merit making ritual in the family home, the coffin was loaded upon a pickup truck and transported in a procession to the local Wat led by the Monks holding on to a cotton cord that was attached to the coffin.  A man walked at the head of the procession with the Monks sprinkling the ground with puffed rice carried in a woven basket.  He also stopped at times along the route to mark the journey with small flags.  The puffed rice is offered as nourishment to the local spirits - apparently a well fed ghost is a happy ghost and less likely to cause problems.  The flags are also an offering to the phii (ghosts) and I suspect denotes a demarcation between their territory and the space being used by the funeral procession.

Puffed Rice Is Offered to the Spirits As the Procession Circles the Crematorium

A cotton cord, called "disaisin" is carried by the Monks and is attached at the other end to the coffin. In the Animist world there are many spirits.  In each human there are 32 spirits that are necessary to keep a person healthy and happy.  An Animist ritual which is ubiquitous in the Lao Loum culture is the Baicii or Baisii.  In the Baisii ritual, pieces of cotton string are tied around a person's wrist to bind the 32 good spirits in their body thereby ensuring good luck, fortune, and good health.  For a large congregation of people the disaisin apparently serves a similar purpose - to connect this world with the spirit world.

Disaisin Connects Coffin to Nearby Sala for Part of Funeral

The procession circled the crematorium three times - symbolic for Buddha, The teachings of Buddha, and the Sanga (Buddhist religious community).  At the conclusion of the circumambulation, the inner coffin containing the corpse was removed from the refrigerated coffin, carried up the concrete stairs and placed upon metal sawhorses located in front of the door to the oven

Paujon's Nephew Escorts His Uncle's Coffin Around the Crematorium

The Sala is a covered open sided building where the Monks gather for merit making rituals.  They as always are seated above the congregation of people.  This is symbolic of the respect the people have for them and a demonstration of the higher status in this life that Monks have attained.

Some people are selected to present offerings such as Monk's robes.  These too are placed atop the closed coffin

Seated In the Sala, Monks Pass Daisaisin That Links Them to the Coffin

Off to the side of the Sala there is a commentator and public address system. Part of the ritual involves reciting a eulogy for the deceased. Another part of the ritual is to announce and call up esteemed guests, family members, and close friends. The selected people are each given a sealed envelope containing cash to be offered in their name and in the name of the deceased. The selected people, one by one climb the crematorium stairs, pay their respects and place the offering on the coffin.

Following Her Sister, Duang Makes An Offering to Her Uncle

After the selected people had gone up the crematorium stairs to present and place cash offerings on the coffin the tray of envelopes were removed and people were called out to take an envelope and place it in front of a Monk seated in the Sala as an offering in the name of the presenter as well as the deceased.

After the ritual of offering and accepting, all people picked up a totem called a "daugjen" from a table at the foot of the crematorium stairs.  Daugjens are small handicraft items that are constructed of bamboo and/or paper that symbolize good luck tokens for the spirit about to be released by the flames on its journey.

A Young Girl Prepares To Place A Daugjen On the Coffin

After Knocking Three Times, Some Final Words

In a poignant and respectful gesture, one of the mourners after placing a daugjen in a common metal tray atop the coffin, bent down at the side of the coffin, rapped three times on the coffin's side and quietly uttered some last words of farewell.


 

Daungchan Places A Daugjen On Her Uncle's Coffin

Headman of Tambon Siaw Places A Monk's Robe On the Coffin

 

Monks Accepting Robe Offerings

After the offering portion of the ritual was completed, the top of the coffin was removed to expose the corpse.  Starting with the Monks, followed by family members and then selected guests, coconut water was poured over the corpse.  The pouring of coconut water is the final cleansing of the body prior to cremation and to nourish the spirit for its upcoming release and journey.

A Novice Monk Prepares To Pour Coconut Water On the Corpse of His Grandfather

After pouring of the coconut water is completed, the saht (a woven reed mat) and or comforter that the body was laying on is removed and taken off to an area at the base of the crematorium to be burned with other personal possessions.  Holes are punched into the bottom of the coffin to drain the coconut water.  The coffin is then lifted and placed on to a wheeled metal carriage containing charcoal. doused with a hydrocarbon accelerant and wheeled into the crematorium oven.  As the flame starts to ignite the body, fireworks are launched into the air to scare off any bad spirits that may be hanging around the area.  The intent is to clear the way for the deceased person's spirit as it starts its journey.

At the same time that the funeral fire is starting and the fireworks are exploding, in an act of renouncing this world and its worldly possessions, family members throw wrapped hard candy and colorfully wrapped coins to the awaiting crowd consisting mainly of children.

Children Scramble to Gather Candy and Coins Tossed As a Demonstration for the Renunciation of Worldly Goods and Possessions

This was yet another funeral that I have witnessed.  But during this funeral I found myself internally celebrating and taking comfort in the ritual.  The familiarity of a ritual that has been practiced over 2,000 years seemed to provide a link to the past all the while of serving as a map to a future destination. Death seems to be more familiar and less frightening; something that I have just begun to experience but is taught from an early age in Isaan.  Like so many situations in life, fear and the lack of knowledge impart greater power than is justified by facts.

                   "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
                    Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; ..."

As I have at every funeral here in Isaan, I walked away impressed with the dignity, respect, and compassion that the community had demonstrated  for one of their own.



Young Boy Watches the Smoke Ascending From Crematorium

Another Lao Loum Funeral Here In Isaan

Hands Pressed Together, A Young Child Participates In the Funeral Ritual

Sunday we attended another funeral ritual, the cremation of my wife's former mother-in-law.  Although Duang has been divorced for many years, attending the ritual was expected because family ties, even former ties, are strong here in Isaan.  Duang's children also attended the cremation ritual for their paternal grandmother.  Duang's son drove six hours from Rayong to participate in his grandmother's funeral.  He did not shave his head and shave his eyebrows like some of his cousins due to his work considerations.  Our grandson, Peelawat, also attended his great grandmother's funeral.

Duang Makes Prayer Offering For Her Former Mother-in-Law

Every funeral that I have attended here in Isaan has been similar but different enough to make each ritual unique.  For this funeral, there was no procession from the home to the local Wat.  When we arrived before the scheduled start of the ritual at 11:30 A.M., the coffin had been placed in front of the Wat crematorium.  There were some people milling about the home of the deceased person but the outdoor kitchen, hustle and bustle of preparing food, tables filled with food and drink were absent.  There was no gambling anywhere to be seen for this funeral.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were served to attendees in the Wat's sala (meeting hall) next to the crematorium.  Like all the other funerals that I have attended here in northeast Thailand, the "Old Mamas" were organized into several small clusters; busy gossiping and chewing betelnut.  Funerals here are large social events with family and friends travelling great distances to attend. There is a great deal of noise from people greeting each other and getting caught up on the latest news as well as gossip.

"Old Mamas" Socializing and Chewing Betelnut in the Wat's Sala

Just over a week ago I posted a comment on one of my photographs of an old woman's hands preparing betelnut, "Experienced hands, just like faces reflect the trials, struggles, and triumphs of a long life".  I did not have that comment in mind when I set about to photograph this funeral, but afterwards when I was editing the days worth of photographs, I was struck by the number of shots that involved hands.

A Young Child Bows During The Merit Making Ritual

Although I have photographed several Lao Loum funeral rituals, I am still very interested in them and still find different aspects to photograph.  Apparently for this funeral ritual, my focus although subconscious was on "hands".

Hands Pack the Ingredients for Betelnut Chewing Into A Tube to Create a Plug

Experienced Hands Prepare the Chewing Plug

Helping Hands Are Always Welcomed

The Compacted Chewing Plug Is Forced Out of the Tube

At Last - Time to Enjoy the Fruits of Labor

Duang's former mother-in-law had eight children. With such a large family there were many sons and grandsons to participate in the ritual as Monks.  There were 17 Monks for the funeral ritual - the most that I have seen at a Lao Loum funeral.

As is integral to the merit making ritual, the offering of gifts; cash, robes, and electric fans on behalf of the donors and the deceased was a prominent display.  Apparently because she was once married to one of the woman's sons, Duang's name was announced for her to walk up and take one of the envelopes containing some of the donated cash.  As part of the merit making ritual at Lao Loum funerals relatives, close friends, dignitaries, and esteemed guests are called up to take an offering of money which they place in front of the Monks who are always seated above the other participants of the ritual.  For this funeral there was also a different treatment of the offerings made to the Monks.  A white cotton string that is always used in the ritual to connect the Monks and the coffin, was placed over the offertory envelopes with the Monks placing their index finger on the envelope as they chanted.

Monks Accepting Offerings of Cash As part of Merit Making Ritual

The connection of the Sanga (religious community) and the deceased person with the cotton string is very strong visual symbolism.  Once again the interaction of hands and physical as well as metaphorical objects came to be strong elements of my photographs for the day.

The cotton string that connects the deceased person to the Sanga passes through the hand of a grandson who has become a Monk for the funeral ritual

Grandsons Participating In Their Grandmother's Funeral

Duang Pours Green Coconut Water Over the Corpse

At this funeral the ritual of pouring green coconut water over the corpse to prepare the spirit for its upcoming journey was a more public display than the funeral that we attended earlier in the month.  Besides the Monks, family members either poured coconut water or sprinkled water on the body using white chrysanthemum type flowers.

Experienced hands, just like faces reflect the trials, struggles, and triumphs of a long life

I photographed the hands of the corpse because, to me, they were reminders of the suffering as well as triumphs that this old woman had endured during her life time.  These were hands that had worked countless seasons of planting rice seedlings - pulling sprouts from ankle deep mud in flooded paddies, repetitiously setting transplanted seedlings into flooded paddies under the heat and glare of the Isaan skies.  These same hands gathered and cut innumerable sheaves of rice over countless harvests. It is quite possible especially in the earlier years that these hands threshed the rice to separate the grains from the stalks - yet another task of survival to feed the family. During the other times of the year, her hands were used to cultivate sugar cane, peanuts, corn, and cassava.  These were the hands that had nurtured and cared for eight children. Hands that cooked thousands of meals over open fires or charcoal fires.  With these hands the woman had made merit and prayed many times in her quest during this life for enlightenment.  With these hands the woman had sewed, repaired and laundered the clothing of her family during her lifetime.  The hands reflected a long and hard lifetime here in Isaan.  Now these hands were freed from their toil and released from suffering.

An assistant hands a container of fuel to the deceased's brother to prepare the cremation fire

When we returned home that night from the funeral, we received word that Duang's uncle had died.  His cremation will be tomorrow.  Personal reminders of the cycle of life and of death continue here.

Maaking or Marking Time In Isaan

An "Old Mama" Prepares to Chew Some Betel Nut In Isaan

In response to a recent post on Facebook, an old fraternity brother of mine, not that he is old, it is just that we last saw each other in 1971) asked me about betel nut chewing.  I was prepared to admonish him for either not reading all my blog posts or for not remembering the one that I wrote regarding the specifics of betel nut chewing.  I have written and posted over 380 blog entries over the past four years, and I was fairly certain that I had written one about the prevalence of betel nut chewing amongst the older generation women here in northeast Thailand.  I even remembered researching the practice and getting the Latin names for the components of betel nut chewing.  Since it was late here in Udonthani, I performed a quick search of my files and could not located either the blog entry or the research documents.  The next day I did a more extensive search both electronically and hard copy.  Well, as my late grandmother used to say about herself until she was 92 years old, "I am not crazy, yet".  Later the ravages of Alzheimer's made a mockery of that belief but mercifully, for her, she did not realize it.  I did not find the blog entry but I did find the hard copy of my research.

Betel nut chewing is popular in Southeast Asia and Pacific. The practise has been going on for thousands of years.  In Thailand there is evidence of it going back four thousand years. It is very complicated in that it is not what it would seem to be.  Most of the confusion stems from improper translation from native languages to western languages during the colonial era.

First of all the practise referred to in English as "betelnut chewing" or "betel nut chewing" does not even involve a nut.  There is no such thing as a "betelnut"  The "nut" used in the practise is actually a drupe of the Areca palm (Areca catechu).  A drupe is a fruit, often referred to as "stone fruit" that has a fleshy outside with a pit containing a seed.  Mango, plum, nectarines, peach, and cherry are examples of drupes.

An Elderly Lao Loum Grandmother Enjoying A Chew

Betelnut chewing referred to in Lao language as "Mark" or "Maak" involves chewing slices of the Areca palm "nut" wrapped up in Betel (Piper betle) vine leaves with some caustic lime added.  Sometimes shredded tobacco is added to the mix inside of the leaves.  Unlike the ads for Skoal which espouse "A pinch between the cheek and gum", betelnut chewing involves packing your mouth rather full.

A Lao Women In the Luang Namtha Area of LPDR Chewing Betel Nut

Sliced or shredded Areca "nuts" are readily available in the local markets throughout Isaan,  Situated next to the burlap bags of the "nuts" are trays filled with bunches of fresh Betel vine leaves.  Not all of the Betel leaves are chewed, some are used as offerings in religious rituals.

An "Old Mama" Holding Some Betel Vine Leaves

Why?  Why would people chew betelnut?  Apparently the practice provides mild stimulation to the user.  To me it sounds akin to chewing coca leaves in the high Andes.  The effects are said to be similar to drinking a cup of coffee.  I am not a coffee drinker but there is no doubt in my mind that if I were looking for stimulation, I would have a cup of coffee or more rather than to chew betelnut.

Elderly Lao Loum Women In Isaan Chewing Betel Nut

I also believe that the practise is also a social and cultural practice.  My mother-in-law who is 72 years old regularly chews betelnut.  I have seen some men and I have seen some people around 35 years old chew but the vast majority of the practitioners have been elderly rural women over 50 years old.  Just as some cultures have worry beads, chew tobacco, smoke to occupy their thoughts and to mark time, it seems to me that betelnut chewing serves a similar function.  The "Old Mamas" seem to like nothing more than to haul out their woven baskets containing the accouterments for betelnut chewing and while away the afternoon gossiping and chewing with their friends

Betel Nut Chewers At a Lao Loum Funeral in Isaan

Chewing betel nut produces copious amounts of red saliva that can either be spit out or swallowed.  Typically the women spit it into a small plastic pail that they have lined with a plastic bag.  You can tell a betel nut chewer by the stains on their gums and teeth.

A Betelnut Chewer Flashing the Ubiquitous Red Smile

Passing An Afternoon and Entertaining Visitors In Isaan

  The European colonial powers were neither appreciative or supportive of the practise.  People who chewed betel nut were looked down upon and were considered to be members of the lowest class.  Today there are not many young people who chew.  The practise is mostly limited to people in rural areas over 50 years old.

What Goes In, Eventually Comes Out - Elderly Woman Spits out Betlejuice

Scenes from a Lao Loum Funeral

Merit Making for Funeral Ritual In Baan Tahsang

Here in Isaan, I have written of the rhythm of time marked by the cycle of work in the fields surrounding my wife's home village, Baan Tahsang (Tahsang Village).  Time is also marked by the passage of life's milestones within the extended Lao Loum family as well as within the villages that dot the Korat Plateau of Northeast Thailand.

Since we have returned to Isaan approximately two months ago, we have been immersed in the joyous milestone of the birth of a baby.  We have also enjoyed meeting all the babies that have joined my wife's extended family during the past year and one-half.  But just as there is the sweet and the sour for food, the ying and the yang of philosophy, there is the life milestone of death that marks the passage of time.

On Friday, an elderly invalid woman of Tahsang Village died.  She was the sister of Duang's aunt, which over here made her Duang's aunt.  I have never fully understood or appreciated family ties beyond aunts, uncles, and first cousins so I am overwhelmed with the extended ties in the Lao Loum culture of my wife's family.  Rather than trying to fully understand the varied and myriad relationships, I just accept whatever I am told by my wife.

The woman, who Duang also referred to as "Grandmother" had nine children during her lifetime.  Apparently "Grandmother" is an endearing term for an elderly woman just as "Old Momma" is an informal term for older women.

One of the woman's children, her youngest daughter (Duang's "cousin") had returned from the Netherlands to pay her respects to her dying mother.  She was scheduled to return to Europe on Sunday but her mother's death on Friday changed those plans.  Typically there is a three day funeral ritual in the Lao Loum culture.  The three day period allows the family time to prepare for the cremation of the deceased.  I also suspect that the three day period also has connections and connotations to Buddhism.  In Buddhism the number, 3, is very special.  During rituals, people will bow their heads three times; and repeat certain words three times.  When making offerings people will burn three joss (incense) sticks, and light three small yellow candles.  When people place gold leaf on statues, it is three squares of gold.  "Three" is significant in that it represents "Buddha", "The Teachings of Buddha", and "The Buddhist Religious Community".

A Sister of the Deceased Prays In Front of Coffin

On the day of a person's death, the family cleans the body and places it in a disposable coffin.  The disposable coffin, which will be consumed in the cremation fire, is then placed inside of a rented refrigerated coffin.  Typically the refrigerated coffin is kept inside the home but for this funeral it was placed outside underneath a covered work space next to the house.  Offerings are placed on top of the coffin.  Plastic flowers, real flowers, and strings of blinking lights are strung along the length of the coffin.  On the floor in front of the coffin, a shrine assembly is set up where people can make offerings, burn incense, and light candles. In front of the coffin as well as above it, special memorial wreath like objects are placed.  To the side of the coffin, a large framed photograph of the deceased person is placed on an easel. Next to the photograph, there is an area where donations of rice are collected in the name of the deceased.  People when they come to pay their respects donate cash and/or rice to assist the family and to make merit.  The cash is used to help defray the costs of the funeral, offered to the Monks as part of merit making ritual for the deceased, and the rice is donated to the Monks who will provide it to people who are unable to afford food from local markets.

Donations of Rice Are Consolidated to be Offered to the Monks

A vigil is maintained for the three days that the coffin is in place at the home.  Each evening at 6:00 P.M. of the first two days of the ritual, Monks visit the home and chant.

Food Is prepared For All the Ritual Attendees

During the first two days, family and friends are busy making arrangements for the cremation on the third day.  A field kitchen is set up to prepare food for people who will be participating in the three day ritual.  Tables and plastic chairs are rented and set up.  Canopies are rented and set up to shelter people from the sun and the possibility of rain. Drinking water, Lao whiskey, soft drinks need to be purchased for each table for each day.  Beef and pork are purchased and chopped into a paste like consistency to make laap, a Lao Loum specialty dish.  Women are busy preparing papaya to make "Pauk Pauk" - spicy papaya salad, a staple of Isaan cuisine.

Under Papaya Trees, Women Prepare Papaya to Make Pauk Pauk

On the third day, the day of cremation, People started arriving around 9:00 A.M. After paying their respects to the deceased, they sat at tables and commenced to eat and drink. As often happens here in Isaan the men and women drifted off to segregated groups. The atmosphere was of a grand social gathering as if an affirmation that life goes on although death has taken away a person from the community.  Part of this may be attributable to the Buddhists preparing all their life for the moment of their death and the openness of the Lao Loum death rituals.  Death is not a dark secret to be ignored and hidden from view.

A Group of Women Socializing Prior to Start of Ritual

 Children witness and participate with the community in the death rituals of family, friends, and neighbors. Death is as much a life milestone for the Lao Loum community as birth, Monk ordination, and marriage. To a certain extent, while the ritual is solemn, respectful; it was also a sort of celebration in the sense it recognized that life is suffering and that the deceased person's suffering in this life had ceased.

Monks arrived around 11:00 A.M. for the start of the merit making ritual.  The merit making ritual is offering food to the Monks in the name of the deceased.  The Monks were from the Wat inside of Tahsang Village.  They were lead by the Monk that I have nicknamed "Rocketman" because of his knowledge and participation in building as well as launching homemade rockets.  One of the other Monks was Duang's uncle who became a Monk three months ago.  He has been a subject of many of my photographs and mentioned in several of my blogs.  His transformation and progress on this path have been both reassuring and a source of joy for us.

There is an interesting aspect of funerals here in Isaan.  There is no legal gambling here in Thailand other than in a national lottery.  However I have never been to a funeral here where there was not gambling going on. The gambling is conducted off to the side.  I understand that for approximately $30 to the "right" policeman, you can get a "permit" which ensures that your gambling operation will not be "interfered" with.  From what Duang tells me, gambling at a funeral can be good for you, something about having "good luck".  She also added that when there is gambling more people attend the ritual. I don't know but Duang did win 500 baht (about $14 USD)



Gambling at the Funeral

Prior to the Monk's arrival, a grandson had his hair cut and eyebrows shaved in preparation to be a Monk for the cremation ritual.  Typically the sons, nephews, and grandsons of the deceased will become Monks for the entire three day ritual.

An Uncle Cuts Young Man's Hair Surrounded By Papaya Trees

Electric Clippers Provide A Closer Cut

Straight Razor Is Used to Remove Eyebrows

After his had washed all the clippings from himself, the Grandson went to the shrine in front of his Grandmother's coffin and made an offering.  As part of the ritual, he was asked by a Brahmin - "Are you a human?" and other liturgical questions for the young man to be a Monk for a day.

Young Man Becoming Monk for the Day

After the brief ritual, the young man retired and returned in full Monk's clothing to take his position on the raised platform with the seven other Monks for the merit making ritual.

Monks Chanting As Part of Merit Making Ritual

Paying for a funeral is a financial burden for a family.  Many people purchase commercial life insurance for the expressed purpose of paying for the funeral and big party typically held one year after the death.  The woman who died did not have commercial life insurance but participated in a government insurance program.  People pay 50 baht, about $1.50 USD, a month and when they die the local government pays 12,000 baht ($400 USD).

Part of the funeral ritual was local government officials attending the funeral and paying off on the government insurance.  The money is publicly presented and counted prior to being made as an offering to the deceased.

Nongwha District Official Presents Government Insurance Benefit

"Book of the Dead" Is Updated By Local Government Officials

After completing the merit making at the home, the coffin was loaded on to a pick up truck for the procession to the Wat.

Monks Lead the Funeral Cortage On To Wat Grounds

As part of the ritual at the front of the crematorium oven, coconut water was poured over the corpse.  Unlike previous funerals that I have attended, the pouring of coconut water was limited to only participation by the Monks.

"Rocketman" Pours Coconut Water Over the Corpse



Family, Friends and Neighbors Place "Daht Mi Jon" On Coffin

Towards the end of the funeral ritual at the Wat, people climb the stairs of the crematorium to place good luck tokens, "Daht Mi Jon" on the coffin.  These tokens are purchased at a specialty store and are made from strips of bamboo and paper.

Great Granddaughter Leaves After Paying Last Respects

The daht mi jon were collected and placed on the corpse inside of the coffin.  A cane knife was used to punch drainage/ventilation holes inside of the coffin.  The holes allowed the coconut water to drain out and to assist in the combustion when the coffin was placed in the oven.

The Coffin Is Placed Upon A Charcoal Bed

The coffin was then lifted off of the metal saw horses and placed upon a bed of charcoal atop a metal wheeled carriage.  The sides of the coffin were doused with about a liter of hydrocarbon fluid - it was not diesel, it smelled very strong but I suspect that it was not gasoline.  It might have been naphtha since when it was ignited it was not as explosive as gasoline.  The carriage was rolled into the oven, the doors were closed and secured.  A Monk took a burning decoration and placed it inside of an ignition port on the oven door to start the cremation fire.

As the fire started, a string of very large firecrackers went off.  These firecrackers were balls about 2-1/2 inches in diameter. They were extremely loud, concussive and quickly filled the area with a dense grey smoke.  I, from my position at the doors to the oven, was somewhat shell shocked by the explosions.  I suspect that was a good sign.  The fireworks were set off to scare away any bad spirits that were in the area as the woman's spirit was released by the fire.  I doubt any spirits would hang around after such  fusillade.

As the fireworks were going off, a couple of the relatives started throwing handfuls of candy, coins, and other mementos from the crematorium steps to the awaiting children and adults below.  This act represents the renunciation of material goods by the deceased persons spirit as it commences it journey.


Children React to Fireworks and Tossed Mementos

Once again I was touched by the dignity, respect and love exhibited during the Lao Loum funeral ritual.  The Lao Loum funeral rituals demonstrate the strong sense of family and community that help bind the people together.  The social fabric of Lao Loum culture is colorful and tightly woven.