I go to the same temple at 15:00 as promised the day before. Aim and Ping welcome me. Ping is a 7 year old sweet girl. He has a shyness peculiar to Asians.. I’m taking some pictures of you. He shows the roof of the temple and says it looks beautiful from here.. I’m shooting doesn’t like it. Take it, take it, then I say and give the machine to your hand.. His father was obviously a photograph. Takes beautiful pictures for me. Some of the photos I use belong to him. Bussy comes in with a red string. It says hide it to protect from evil. I tie it to my arm. The ceremony is about to begin. Everyone takes their place. This time I’m sitting among the guests on the chairs outside.
Family members inside, men and women sit side by side in secret.. Monks and the orchestra together. The ceremony begins. Monks are chanting or praying again. I can’t fully. Then the guests pray on the stairs before they go inside, then we go inside, pray there, incense is burned. Gold leaf papers are burned and the same process is repeated by family members.. Then some names are read and the family elders present these people with money in an envelope.. It was a way of sharing their assets with relatives.
The coffin is carried to the middle of the temple and an earthen jug is placed on it.. Monks pray. The templar is hammering those gold leaf papers into the coffin with a hammer.
The monk is coming.. He hits the jug with a hammer after hammering a nail into the same spots.. The pitcher falls to the ground, breaks, and the water in it spills out.. The coffin is carried into a small temple-like hearse. We get into cars and go to the cemetery.. In the cemetery, the coffin is taken down from the hearse and placed in the grave.. The corpse is not removed from the coffin.. Foiled papers with glitter are distributed to everyone. After the prayers of the monks, we go to the grave and throw these glitters and a handful of soil.. Family members present to the guests a bowl with a picture of a rooster on it.. I know I can’t carry it for 5 months so I want to buy it but they insist. I buy it to use as a food bowl for stray animals.. For a good cause. Animals in the streets are very weak. Family members stand by the grave and pray. Trays of food come again, they are lifted and lowered three times.. Once for buddha, once for dharma and once for monks. A red cloth is handed out to family members, and one of the temple attendants tosses the mixture containing gravel, earthen rice and coins into handfuls.. They stay in the dust. They collect rice grains and coins that fall on the ground and hide them in this fabric.. Rice grains symbolize continued life and coins symbolize fertility.. Finally the coffin is closed and I bid farewell to the stranger in me. Now that I’m alone, I can go on my way..