[mosypeSom]

If you mean offering flowers to the monks, Buddha images, or for decoration in the temple, as I recall we don't have rules on this, we decide what type of flowers and color to use based on occasion, places, etc.

I read a post from Khun Richard here in the forums that writing in the color red was bad. The color red doesn't apply to flowers then ?

[UnmariKam]

Spring has just sprung in Australia and daffodils are everywhere. Are yellow flowers suitable to offer at Tham Wat Yen? (Seeing as that's where I'm going this evening.)

I know there are some colours that are not suitable for offering to a Thai person as a romantic gesture and that there are other colours that suggest they are being given as a romantic gesture, rather than say as "ta for inviting me over for a meal."

Can anyone offer a rough guide to this?

[inhitoemits]

An important thing I remember from my own long list of mistakes is not to smell the flowers being offered at the wat.

I heard about this NO very long time ago, but I couldn't recall the reason why we were told not to smell the flowers .

[inhitoemits]

Spring has just sprung in Australia and daffodils are everywhere. Are yellow flowers suitable to offer at Tham Wat Yen? (Seeing as that's where I'm going this evening.)

If you mean offering flowers to the monks, Buddha images, or for decoration in the temple, as I recall we don't have rules on this, we decide what type of flowers and color to use based on occasion, places, etc.

There is the belief that the person who offer fresh, prebloom, colorful flowers with nice scent will receive fresh, new things, not second hand ones.

Whenever I joined ‘Tham Wat’ Chao (àªéÒ - morning) or Yen (àÂç¹ - evening), I liked to present lotus flowers or mali (jasmine) in front of the main Buddha image. Sometimes I prepared many colorful flowers to decorate at the altar in Ubosot (temple hall).

Anyway, it’s the tradition to offer lotus flower in religious ceremonies, lotus flower represents enlightenment, free from defilement. Poem from sfsu.edu.

The lotus has its roots in the mud,
Grows up through the deep water,
And rises to the surface.
It blooms into perfect beauty and purity in the sunlight.
It is like the mind unfolding to perfect joy and wisdom.

We don’t offer black flowers esp. in auspicious ceremonies, black flower is used to worship Phra Rahu, all offerings are in black as it’s the color of Phra Rahu.

But black rose for lover means love that cannot be changed. I can't confirm this meaning, someone told me.

Photos of Phra Rahu at Wat Srisathong, Nakhon Prathom.

[chuecaloversvvp]

I am only replying because nobody else did (though I guess it is already late in the evening and you are gone anyway) - I don't know much about the symbolism of colours, but for sure the flower offerings often come with yellow or orange marigolds or something similar, not sure about English name. yellow should be ok because golden-yellow is the colour of the Buddhist flag. white is also often used, not only for lotus.

[UnmariKam]

I read a post from Khun Richard here in the forums that writing in the color red was bad. The color red doesn't apply to flowers then ?

Thanks MM that was one of the previous posts in the back of my mind.

In the event that one has a particular liking for a particular Thai person, would that mean one does not declare that by giving her/him red roses?

[Broker15015]

I heard about this NO very long time ago, but I couldn't recall the reason why we were told not to smell the flowers .

Because an offering of a flower to Buddha must be a total gift-the foregoing of the pleasure of the scent included. Not to give such gifts totally is selfish and invites a punishment-in this case, a deformed nose in the next life!

(Read it somewhere-stuck in my mind!)

[fameintatenly]

An important thing I remember from my own long list of mistakes is not to smell the flowers being offered at the wat.

Not that I think you would do that, billk. I suspect it might be more of a female thing.

[aspinswramymn]

They used to write the names of the dead bodies in red. And so it is bad luck to do so. Not everyone knows this, but some do. Just last week I was asking the students to write twenty questions in their books. To make it easier for me to mark I asked them to write the answers in red to make it stand out. About a dozen of them switched to another colour when it came to their name. I don't believe this practice is carried across to flowers and other objects. Normally red is an auspicious colour for Thai-Chinese.