Merit on the menu

Merit on the menu

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
Merit on the menu

People these days seem almost to be wrapped in plastic. It is everywhere in their lives as they follow the technology that creates artificial materials intended to enhance comfort and convenience. There is often more of it than necessary.

Making merit: Left and far left, people place rice in monks’ bowls from traditional bowls, still made of silver or brass.

The result is that a lot of the plastic becomes polluting waste, which takes a heavy toll on the environment. Sometimes you may want to escape from this state of being a slave to plastic, and in fact you can still find people who use simple, natural materials, which the plastics have replaced. Their preference for these older options reflects their personal values, and they have no intention of changing to more modern, artificial materials.

Thai villagers of the past, in the times when plastic was not yet available, carried the things they needed while travelling in kraboong — baskets that were suspended from the ends of a pole balanced on one shoulder — or in larger bamboo baskets. Food taken to be eaten away from home was put into a pinto — a portable stack of bowl-like receptacles that fitted together and were covered with a lid. Meals eaten at home were served on plates set on a toke, a big wicker or bamboo tray raised on short legs.

Food taken to the temple to offer to monks while making merit was placed in ornamental silver or brass bowls called khan, which in turn were put into a woven wicker or bamboo basket, together with a ladle for serving into the monks’ alms bowls. But these items have been scarce for many years now. They seem to have vanished.

Nevertheless, I did see some of these objects just two weeks ago at tambon Bang Tanote in amphoe Photharam, Ratchaburi. It was during a morning merit-making ceremony at a home belonging a long-time former kamnan, or community governor, who was very well known among the local people. On the morning of the ceremony all the members of the community were invited to make merit and eat breakfast together. This meant that I was able to see many people coming to take part.

For the ceremony, nine monks were brought to the house from a nearby temple at 6am. When they entered, the owner greeted them with the words “ah-raad, tha-nah-sin”, a chant that started the ceremony by requesting that merit be made and the relevant religious precepts be observed. In the provinces, all villagers recite this chant. After that, the monks began the auspicious ceremony, which involves longer chanted prayers.

During the course of the prayer, the villagers gradually arrived, seating themselves on chairs that had been set up in the yard around the house. Each brought a woven wicker or bamboo basket containing a silver khan filled with white rice together with a ladle. Although the sizes of these bowls and ladles were roughly the same, the beauty and elaborateness of their designs differed. Some were made of brightly polished brass.

The preference for baskets made only of woven wicker or bamboo has not changed for many generations of villagers. The shapes of the baskets may vary, depending on the tastes and skill of the craftsmen who make them, but no one wants to use baskets made of plastic. They say they are unsightly and unsuitable for use at a merit-making ceremony.

Once a ceremony like this has finished, the baskets are carefully wrapped up and stored, making sure that no dust collects on them. When the villagers travel away from home and happen on a place where unusually beautiful baskets are woven, they buy some to take home and keep. They feel that they have acquired something of high quality for religious events which have great value for them.

Once the monks had finished chanting at the ceremony that I attended, community members formed a line to put the rice they had brought into the monks’ begging bowls, which had been arranged on a table. There were many of them, belonging not only to the monks at the ceremony to take home for their midday meal, but also for other monks and apprentices who did not attend. Besides the rice, the host household had also prepared different foods to eat with it and packed them into a number of pinto.

Next, the monks who were present had their breakfast and food was offered to the guests. The tables were the broad, round kind, each seating 10, as they would be for a toh Jeen or “Chinese table”-style meal. But the dishes served were all Thai: kaeng som (a sweet-sour-slightly spicy soup), tao jio lon (a rich dipping sauce based on fermented whole soybeans, eaten with vegetables), steamed fish, nam phrik (chilli dip sauces), mee krathi (pink-coloured, fine-gauge noodles with coconut cream and mild seasonings) and rice. Chinese dishes are not served for breakfast, and it is preferable to offer them for the midday or evening meal.

Caterers who arrange breakfasts for ceremonies like this only make Thai food, and won’t prepare Chinese dishes. Customers who use their services are usually people who have been invited to such breakfasts and contact the caterer when they have the opportunity to organise one of their own.

Morning ceremonies like this one have changed little from generation to generation. They are community events that have scarcely acknowledged invading new technology.

Villagers know all about plastic and the many thing things that it can be used for, but when the time comes for a traditional ceremony, they keep it strictly at a distance. n

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT