Portrait | Guests | Offering | Feast

Final Offering | Rocket | Ignition | Fire

A Monk's Funeral Main
The Thailand Galleries Main

 

To tell the truth, I might have missed something in the hour previous to this photo. I was tired after a few hours in the sun (I also had a cold) and went to a nearby farm with a friend to rest. The crowd has now reached more than 500 guests and there is a final offering from each of them. The offering seems to be a mock flower arrangement, the flowers made of wood and paper.
As the offerings are made these volunteers pick them up and place them under the coffin in the mock shrine. This is when I figured out what the offerings were for: to serve as kindling for the pyre.
Another clue that the fire is about to start is the fire department showing up--just in case the fire gets out of control and we need some fire fighting.

 

Portrait | Guests | Offering | Feast

Final Offering | Rocket | Ignition | Fire

A Monk's Funeral Main
The Thailand Galleries Main