Thai Wedding Ritual — a fascinating combination of religion, superstition and festival, one of the country's most ancient traditions.
Most Thais today choose their spouses themselves. Marriages with parental consent, commonplace a few decades ago, are now rare, but they do happen, for example, if it turns out that a couple is in an intimate relationship. Then they will most likely be forced to marry - to preserve family honor.
As soon as the young people decide to get married, the parents, who until then had seemed to be completely indifferent observers, immediately enter the scene. According to tradition, the elders of the groom's family turn to the elders of the bride's family for consent and approval. The engagement usually takes place before the wedding, although nowadays they prefer to combine the engagement and the wedding - in order to save money. The bride receives a ring from the groom and Sin-Sot - a ransom in money or things. As in the old days, today this ceremony is often accompanied by the Khan-Maak procession - when the groom's relatives and friends dance all the way from his house to the bride's house with gifts in their hands (I wonder what they did in the old days if the future newlyweds lived in different cities?).
The ceremonial offerings from the groom vary widely, and many families have abandoned this tradition altogether, but there are still some items that are essential to any wedding. First, there is the Han Mun, a richly decorated wedding cup filled with flowers, the number of which must be odd. The Han Maak, or betel cup, is also decorated with fresh flowers. Inside, there should be two raw betel nuts, 12 silver, gold, and copper leaves, two bags of rice seeds, two bags of beans, and two bags of sesame seeds.
Han Ngeun Sinsod, or the dowry cup, is an indicator of how much the groom loves the bride and how financially secure he is. I personally like the idea that the dowry is brought into the house not by the bride (as is customary in our country), but by the groom: the man understands from the very beginning who is responsible for the material well-being of the family.
Khao Kwun (khao - rice, kwun - natural spirit) - a short but meaningful ceremony to restore a shaken spirit, it calls for happiness and prosperity to the future family. During this ceremony, rice, desserts and fruits are always served on the table.
Traditional thai wedding begins early in the morning with the prayers of monks, who are specially invited from a neighboring temple or monastery. The newlyweds and their relatives treat the monks to a festive meal, after which the prayers are resumed. The eldest and most respected monk sprinkles the newlyweds with holy water.
After midday, the most important stage of the wedding begins, which is called Rot Nam Sang. The bride and groom sit next to each other on the floor or a small platform that resembles a stage, their hands folded in a traditional Thai greeting - wai. The hands of the newlyweds are connected by a necklace of fresh flowers. The oldest resident of the village or community in which the newlyweds live is the guest of honor and the master of ceremonies, from a large shell (which, by the way, gave the name to the whole ceremony) he pours water on the hands of the newlyweds and wishes them happiness. Each invited participant in the wedding ceremony in turn (which is regulated by the oldest relatives of the groom and the bride) does the same: pours water on the hands of the newlyweds from a shell and wishes a happy family life. Water is scooped from small silver cups khan, in which lotus petals float - a symbol of fertility, as well as other flowers that symbolize happiness and prosperity.
Guests are forbidden to wear black - for Thais, as for us, it is the color of mourning, and the appearance of a person in black on wedding — a bad sign. In general, choosing clothes for a wedding ceremony often turns into an exhausting marathon, especially for the bride. After all, according to tradition, on the most important day of her life, she changes up to a dozen outfits — of various colors, including traditional white. The bride's oiled hair is decorated with flowers and styled into a complex hairstyle.
As soon as the last guest has said the traditional wishes for happiness and prosperity, the banquet begins - the tables are laden with drinks and snacks, the guests are having fun and dancing, the newlyweds are working, but more on that later.
In different parts thailand wedding ceremonies have their own variations, due to differences in traditions and customs. One of these special rituals, which is practiced in the north of the country, is Lanna.
If it is known that the bride and groom had sexual relations before the wedding, the ritual necessarily includes the Pit-Pi rite. To have intimate relations before marriage in Thailand has always been considered an insult to ancestors. It is clear that today this happens more and more often, and therefore the Pit-Pi ritual has to be performed almost during every wedding.
The bride's parents or elders must inform the ancestral spirits (Pi) of the groom about the "bad behavior," and the groom must apologize. He brings his ancestors gifts of flowers, incense sticks, and candles, the number of which depends on the number of revered ancestors on both sides - the bridegroom and the bride. Then he offers money - an amount equal to the number of flowers, sticks and candles. And the offerings end with a dinner, which always consists of meat, rice, whiskey, dessert and fruit. The offering is taken to a special "spirit house" or a room in the house where the spirits of the ancestors live, and the gifts are accompanied by a prayer: "This couple acted badly, violating our customs and traditions. Their act was disrespectful to the ancestors, we ask you to forgive them and accept them as our children. May the spirits protect us and grant us prosperity in the future." Once the prayer has been said and the sticks and candles have burned out, the participants in the ceremony ask the ancestors for permission to eat the prepared food.
Another interesting ritual of the Lanna wedding ceremony is Puk Muea, the sacred thread. The newlyweds kneel on a platform, their outstretched hands resting on a pillow. Each guest, wishing the newlyweds happiness and success, ties their wrists with a special sacred thread - usually 3-9 cotton threads woven together. This tying ritual is started, as you might guess, by the elders of the two clans.
The last rite of Lanna is the ceremonial farewell of the newlyweds to the marital bedroom, where the bed is thickly strewn with rose petals.
The best gift for newlyweds is considered to be money - it is mainly used to pay for the banquet. After all, the number of guests often reaches a thousand people! The amount of money in the envelope directly depends on the social status of the guest - if a person is greedy, it will definitely become known, which, of course, has a bad effect on the reputation.
The main person at the banquet is the master of ceremonies, usually a close friend of the bride or groom. The first speaker is the guest of honor, often a respected person in the community - a local politician or an employer of one of the newlyweds. He knows about his special role in advance and prepares for it seriously, although the speech will certainly include jokes like these:
- marriage is like chopsticks, you need both to get the result;
- spouses are like tongue and teeth, they need each other, but sometimes they clash, don’t be surprised if it’s painful, it’s an integral part of marriage;
— the most necessary quality in marriage is the ability to forgive.
After the speech of the guest of honor, all the guests stand up and proclaim the health of the newlyweds three times with the words "chai-o". During the banquet, the newlyweds certainly go around all the guests and take pictures with everyone. A Thai proverb says: if the groom has 50 friends, then at the wedding he should drink 50 glasses of whiskey, and therefore on the first wedding night, let the wife not be offended that he will not be able to fulfill his marital duty.
