Last week, I attended the "monk-ing" ceremony of a foreign exchange student who has been studying at a school near where I live. His name is Neils and he is from Belgium (hence the white, non-Thai-like skin). He wanted to have this experience before heading back to his home country. I'm not sure what his religious affiliation is. I do know, however, that he is a seeker of knowledge and understanding. I'm sure this is a part of that journey.
When I arrived at the pre-ceremony, they had just shaven his head (hair and eyebrows). This is done to help prevent monks from focusing any attention and care to their appearance. They are not allowed to have any hair on their head, wear any sort of ornamentation and (slightly beside the point - no underwear....??). Neils was seated in front of the usual centerpiece made from folded leaves, fruit, food and flowers and he was encircled (along with others in the party) by white string. Thais use this string to bless, ward off evil spirits and protect. It is the same kind of string that was tied around my wrists for a goodbye blessing last week.
He held a lotus bud because the lotus flower is the flower of divinity for Thai people. The gift of a lotus flower is only appropriate for monks because it is believed that they are at the level with the divine, not human. In this ceremony, Neils is believed to begin the journey from lowly human to divinely monk.
They did several ritual things that I didn't entirely understand and that they didn't explain. In this picture, the ceremony leader is blowing smoke into Neils' mouth through a banana leaf. Apparently, this goes back to a Brahman story about a divine snake that blew smoke. I'm not sure why this is done in a Thai Buddhist ceremony. They also fed him a hard boiled egg - which I thought was done for fertility (because that's what I was told when I saw it happen in a wedding ceremony) but that doesn't fit with a celibate monk....
After a few rituals, each person attending the ceremony, came up to Neils and tied white string around his wrists (same as what they did to me). They had him hold an orange during this time - again, not sure why. When I arrived, I had to hold a hard boiled egg during one of my ceremonies. I think it is just to keep the hand out.
After all this, blessings and hold water, we all piled into cars and trucks and headed to the temple. Neils rode the "traditional" way in the back of a pickup (formerly probably on a platform carried by villagers) with his close friends and host mother. An umbrella (used only for monk-ing ceremonies) was held over him to shield his (newly balded) head from the sun. It's a good thing - it was super hot that day.
Once at the temple, they held the umbrella over him as he walked from the car to into the temple area. (Which, incidentally was held in a temple just being built -though there was a finished one near by and which was really just some concrete support beams with a piece of cloth draped in between. Oh well. Before entering the temple, Neils threw coins out to everyone attending. This signifies the man's letting go of worldly possessions and wealth. Yippee - I was five Baht richer!
There was a lot of chanting that I (and probably he) couldn't understand. He had to bow repeatedly at the feet of the head monk. The rest of us just watched. It was hard (literally) to sit with my feet tucked under me, as a sign of respect, on the concrete floor during all the chanting that I didn't understand, but I managed. (Fortunately, I was in a skirt and could site cross legged for a while without anyone seeing).
After the first round of chanting, the other monks helped change Neils' robes from the white ones of the pre-ceremony to the orange/brown ones of a full (divine) monk. Of course they did this discreetly within his robes. Thai clothes are made for that and it is easy to be discreet. This was especially important, as he is not allowed to wear underwear!!
Now, a full monk, Neils sat again for another round of chanting, blessing and bowing. The other monks helped him know when to bow. He looked a little confused, but I'm sure it was meaningful for him all the same.
From this point forward. Neils is a monk. He cannot come in contact with a female, eat food after noon nor focus money or time on material/worldly concerns. I think he's planning on staying at the temple as a monk for about a month before he heads home. Unfortunately, I won't see him again before I leave to hear about the experience. Good luck Neils!
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