Funerals

The deceased in Thailand are kept in a refrigerated casket during funeral dates. We have attended 2 funerals lately. Both of the funerals we attended were for Christians. One deceased person was kept at Krabi Baptist Church through the 2 days of services. The family slept in the same room with their loved one. Richard preached one of those services about Jesus being the good shepherd. Each service ended with those attending eating rice porridge and beverages. The non-Christian mother asked for her daughter’s body to be cremated so that she could take her ashes home.
The second funeral we attended was for a relative of one of our cell group members. We traveled three hours away through some beautiful mountainous countryside to the city of Na-korn-Si-Tham-ma-rat. A Presbyterian church has a cemetery in that city. The cemetery had a shelter where the services were held and the family stayed. We arrived about 11 AM. The family made sure that we were greeted and had something to drink. About 30 minutes later they served us lunch with a choice of 7 toppings to put on our rice. (Serving food is standard for most funerals in Thailand.) We left about 3 PM and did not stay for the night services. (This would have put us getting home about midnight and having to work the next day.) According to Thai tradition, we left an envelope with money in it to help the family pay for the funeral expenses. The services lasted 7 days and the deceased was buried in the cemetery in a partially buried vault.