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We're together at the klong,

Each one with his krathong

As we push away we pray,

We can see a better day

The Loy Krathong festival dates back to the period of the Sukhothai Kingdom, 700 years ago. It marked the end of the rainy season and the main rice harvest. It is based on a Hindu tradition of thanking the water god(s). The farmers of Sukhothai held a festival of floating candles.

One year, a beautiful woman called Noppamas, who was the chief royal consort, made special 'lanterns' for the festival. She made them from banana leaves and shaped them like lotus flowers. The king was suitably impressed with what he saw, and announced that krathongs would be floated every year from then on. Today, in memory of her and her 'innovation', there is a beauty contest called 'The Noppamas Queen Contest'.

Laying the Foundation Stone

Thai people like to consult the astrology charts (and / or Buddhist monks though this is spoken of as a 'low art' in the Brahmajala Sutta) in order to find an auspicious time to do something important. This can be anything from the day of a marriage or when to make a business deal. The date and time for starting to build a house is also important. A special ceremony is arranged for erecting the first pillar or foundation stone. Previously I had the privilege to attend the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the Paknam Tower. This is going to be a 139 meter high tower with amazing views over Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand.

Thai people are mainly Buddhists, but ceremonies like this one are conducted by Brahmin priests dressed in white. During the ceremony a priest asks forgiveness from the guardian spirit of the land. He also asks the spirits permission to build on the land. This was followed by offerings for the guardian spirits. Although this ceremony is mainly Brahmin, nine monks were also invited to do some chanting. Local dignitaries offered food to the monks in order to make merit during this event. I was reminded of the fact that many Thai's see no conflict of interest by partaking in both Brahmin and Buddhist ceremonies, even simultaneously. The Thais themselves would rather make auspicious offerings twice than not make them at all.

According to Thai astrology, there are three days of the week when you should never start construction of a building. These are Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. For the consecration ceremony of the Paknam Tower the date chosen was Friday 18th May 2007. The time for the actual laying of the foundation stone was set for exactly 2:19 p.m. The number 'nine' is considered auspicious by Thai people. Everything is done in multiples of threes or nines wherever possible. There were nine monks and nine different kinds of food offerings for them.

As well as the marble foundation stone, nine symbolic bricks were used during the ceremony. Three made of gold, three made of silver and three made of an alloy. There were also nine symbolic pegs made of nine different types of wood. In addition to these items, there were jasmine garlands, flowers with popped rice and one baht coins which were all utilized during the ceremony. 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。