Buddhist Funeral

On Monday we got to experience a different part of the Buddhist religion. Unfortunately, one of our coordinators, Dr. Soparth's husband died of cancer last week. As a result we went to the funeral to show our support and see the differences between our funerals and theirs. The first thing we had to do when we got there was take our shoes off and walk over to an alter-thing, kneel down, and bow 3 times. After that you could walk over to the casket area which wasn't open but propped up and closed. Before all the services Dr. Soparth invited us to have dinner which was huge and delicious for the most part. When dinner was finished we sat and waited for the funeral to start. With the extreme heat it felt like forever. Once it started Monks sang prayers which we couldn't understand. It was really quick after that though. Our group was afraid that the funeral would be awkward since we didn't actually know the man, but there was no mourning. I didn't see one tear shed. It seems like Thai's celebrate death instead of fear it.