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The Wedding of My Parents |
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Written by Panrit "Gor" Daoruang
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One of the most important occastions of
the person's life after birth is the wedding ceremony as it places
value on that particular moment when man and woman have decided
to be united in a bond that will influence the rest of their
lives. Therefore, the ceremony must be held in a beautiful and
sacred way. Above all, astrologers will be consulted beforehand
in order to find out if the stars of those to be married are
compatible and if so what should be the auspicious day and time
for the ceremony. But mostly the ceremony will be held in August
which is considered as the most auspicious month for wedding.
Usually in the countryside, a marriage
takes place at the age of 20 while in the city this maybe late,
up to 28 - 35. This depends on the readiness of the persons who
want to enter into marriage. At the same time, nowadays most
young people choose their own marriage partners while arranged
marriage is very rare.
The most interresting part of the wedding ceremony
is a procession of "Khan Mark" (offering items)
as relatives and friends of the groom dance their way to the
house of the bride with their hands full of offering.
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This is the most interesting part
of the ceremony called "Khan Mark" My father's
relations are walking to my mother's house and before they can
go into my mother's house, they have to pass the silver and gold
gate first. They have to give some money to them and then they
can go in. The two women in the picture on the right are the
first gate. You can seem them holding a piece of string stopping
the procession. |
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They are getting ready to pay respect
to the dead ancestors, in Thai it is called "wai phee"
(paying respect to the ghosts). My father and my mother are
doing it in the right picture. |
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The engagement ceremony must take place before
the wedding, however, some couples may prefer to hold the engagement
and wedding ceremony on the same day as a means of saving money.
The engagement ceremony is usually done through the offering
of an engagement ring to the girl while the wedding cremony will
be incomplete without the offering of "Sin-sod"
which is the money to be given to the bride's parents by
the groom's parents of the amount they demand. |
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My father's relations are opening gifts for
the bride and my father is giving my mother a bracelet and something
else like a ring and a neckless. |
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My father and my mother are paying
respect to my mother's parents and getting ready to listen to
the monks chanting by lighting the candles and incense sticks. |
Information
in this page mainly comes from a book called "Essays
on Thailand" by Thanapol Chadchaidee. It is used
here with his permission. The book contains 60 essays about
Thailand written in Thai and English.
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