Lying in a lucky coffin

[mcmurphy]

Lying in a lucky coffin

Fifty-nine people with consistently bad luck joined together for a large ceremony at a temple in Nakhon Ratchasima intended to wipe out their ill fortune once and for all.

Wat Pa Satha Ruam in Muang district was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its annual ceremony to donate coffins to the needy. This year, 2,999 coffins were donated to the poor who cannot afford to pay for cremation and for the use of unclaimed corpses. But monks also prepared 59 coffins for those wishing to prolong their lives.

The temple said the event was jointly organised with other foundations and through this association this year's was the biggest ever in Thailand.

The 59 unlucky people in the ritual ceremony were given specially designed coffins. They laid down inside the coffins and organisers shut the lids. Monks chanted rites as if the 59 were dead.

After the 59 arose from the coffins, 108 renowned monks from around the country, invited especially for the ceremony, sprayed them with holy water to bless their new lives.

One of the 59, Sergeant-Major First Class Promma Yeerum from Surin, said after the ceremony he was looking forward to a better life for him and his family. He hoped his boss would promote him and the family business would flourish after struggling through economic hard times.

Another participant, Wimonpan Ackarawasin from Nakhon Ratchasima, was optimistic that all the bad things occurring to her would be dispelled.

She said she did not care about those people who believed it was a bad omen to lie in a coffin.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/310808_News/ ... news99.php

[Naam Jai (?2008)]

With tongue in cheek I thought, at first this post should have been in Joke Thread but then I just realised the serious side to it.

Thought for the day?

Anyone know where the Crematorium is?

I just wanted to make sure they have enough full gas bottles to cremate me.

[KoratCat]

A little more precise in this article:

Morning of the living dead

Death and rebirth, minus all the bad karma – in just five minutes.


NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Anyone calling in to Wat Pa Satharuam on August 22 could be forgiven for thinking they’d stumbled upon the aftermath of a natural disaster, seeing row after row of coffins lined up on the the temple grounds.

Anyone waiting a little longer, however, would get even more of a shock when, after watching the death rites, the occupants of the 59 coffins began to rise up as if returning from the dead.

The scene was not some voodoo ritual, but a ceremony to rid the faithful of curses and bad karma from previous existences.

From 8 am to 1 pm, participants took turns climbing into the coffins with a bunch of flowers, incense and a candle. They lay down facing west, and monks covered them with shrouds.

Four monks then paraded around the coffins, murmuring incantations and sprinkling holy water from 108 famous temples on the bodies.

Finally, the coffins’ occupants faced east, thus completing their rebirth. The whole process took about five minutes.

Chamlong Kanchanawatana of the organizing committee said, “The ceremony of cleansing bad luck by lying in coffins is an ancient belief. If someone has misfortune, bad karma, obstacles or problems in their lives, then [the ceremony] will bring them good fortune, driving problems and danger out of their lives. It is like death and rebirth, except that all the bad things die along with the old person.”

Wichai Nanthathanathawon, Chairman of the Bangkok-Nakhon Rachasima Friendship Group, which organized the ceremony, said this was the ninth year the ceremony had been held. It was the biggest yet and the largest of its type in the world.

This year it would be particularly auspicious for women born in the year of the goat, dog, ox and snake. Men born in the year of the horse, rabbit, rat and cock would also benefit as, according to astrologers, the Chinese New Year that began on February 8 is not a good time for them, Mr Wichai explained.

The Friendship Group also donated more than 2,500 coffins “to the needy”, he added.

Phuket Gazette Sept. 19, 2008