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**triardwonvada** · 04-10-2011, 05:38 AM

Has anyone here heard of this keeping pieces of bones from deceased parents and grandparents and have them scented by monks for Songkran? I never heard or read about this before. Reads more of a Chinese thing.

Thanks for the clarifications. As I was saying I have no idea where this piece came from originally. But I did have an experience with the bones. During our time in the Peace Corps we were living with a Thai family in a village near Uthong. On Songkran after finishing lunch, Aon, the 18 year old daughter, the only one who spoke some English in the family, brought out a tall brass container and started polishing it. I had no idea what it was and asked her what was inside and if I could look. She unscrewed the top and I stuck my finger inside. When I pulled it out it had some grey powder on it. "What is this?" I asked still without a clue. "This is my father," she answered, "my family is going to go to the Wat today and a monk is going to bless this urn." I apologized profusely and she just said:"mai pben rai ka".

Later I learned -- probably from our Thai trainers -- about the custom of leaving some bones and apparently some of the ashes for the family to place in a small container to keep in their homes. Perhaps this is a custom you primarily find in villages. Well, we have one here at our house with some of our son's ashes. Some of it we had blessed by a monk and sent it down the Ping river in Chiangmai during Yee Peng (Loy Krathong).

04-10-2011, 05:38 AM	#5
triardwonvada Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 448 Senior Member	Has anyone here heard of this keeping pieces of bones from deceased parents and grandparents and have them scented by monks for Songkran? I never heard or read about this before. Reads more of a Chinese thing. Thanks for the clarifications. As I was saying I have no idea where this piece came from originally. But I did have an experience with the bones. During our time in the Peace Corps we were living with a Thai family in a village near Uthong. On Songkran after finishing lunch, Aon, the 18 year old daughter, the only one who spoke some English in the family, brought out a tall brass container and started polishing it. I had no idea what it was and asked her what was inside and if I could look. She unscrewed the top and I stuck my finger inside. When I pulled it out it had some grey powder on it. "What is this?" I asked still without a clue. "This is my father," she answered, "my family is going to go to the Wat today and a monk is going to bless this urn." I apologized profusely and she just said:"mai pben rai ka". Later I learned -- probably from our Thai trainers -- about the custom of leaving some bones and apparently some of the ashes for the family to place in a small container to keep in their homes. Perhaps this is a custom you primarily find in villages. Well, we have one here at our house with some of our son's ashes. Some of it we had blessed by a monk and sent it down the Ping river in Chiangmai during Yee Peng (Loy Krathong).
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