Hello friends, I hope everyone is well. Today, I would like to introduce you to the ordination tradition, which I participated in today because my mother's friend's son has reached the age for ordination. According to tradition, Thai men who are 20 years old must ordain as monks to study the teachings and practice according to the Buddhist way. In the past, people usually ordained for one Buddhist Lent, or at least three months.
However, nowadays, everyone has to work, so they can't take that long off work. They usually ordain for 15 to 30 days. The ordination involves shaving the head and one day before the ceremony, which will be the status of a "father novice" according to the word that has been passed down. There will be a procession of the father novice to ask for forgiveness from the elders and sacred places in the village. There will be music, a brass band, playing fun songs for the relatives to join in the procession. It is believed that whoever dances to lead the procession of the father novice will have the chance to be born as an angel.
After the procession, in the evening, there will be a meal for the attendees. The size of the party depends on the status and budget of the organizer. And after the banquet, the next day there will be a procession of the novice from the house to the temple and will parade around the church 3 times before entering the ordination ceremony in the church. After the ceremony is finished, they will be transformed into monk's clothes. While being ordained as a monk, they must study the Dharma, the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and receive alms for the villagers to make merit by putting food in for the monks to eat in order to have strength to continue performing religious activities.
Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.
