Making Merit

monks chanting during the "making merit" ceremony

An important part of Thai Buddhist culture is "making merit." One does this by donating food or other goods to monks. Businesses, schools and even families will often invite monks once a year to bless them. We were able to attend the annual making merit ceremony at Claire's preschool. We were told that the principal had invited very high-ranking monks to come. I thought that one of the monks might say something or maybe the principal would give a little speech, but they just lit candles and chanted for about 15 minutes. Then the monks were served a very elaborate lunch (I donated some homemade "American" cookies). Finally, we were dismissed, and everyone had lunch downstairs. Claire was proud to show us her school. I thought it was fun to see the pictures and artwork of the kids. Look at some of the crazy Thai nicknames of Claire's classmates.