Thailand is a Buddhist country. There are churches and Christians, but they are a small minority, more or less 1% of the population. Half of them are Catholic, the other half Protestant. About 4% is Muslim – mainly living in the South of the country, but also in the big cities. 95% of the Thais are Buddhist, following the Theravada or ‘Lesser Wheel’ religious tendency. It would be too ambitious to detail Buddhist philosophy in this introduction. The essence is that every young Thai man should become a monk once in his life, usually before marrying. Women can also become a nun. Monks wear orange or saffron robes, nuns white clothing. It is illegal for lay people to wear these habits. Monks have to respect 227 rules! The most important are the following.

In no way monks should touch women. If you are a woman and want to give something to a monk, you should give it first to a man who will hand it over to the monk in turn. Or you deposit it in front of him, for instance on a corner of his frock, so that he can pull it towards him.

Most monks wear bright orange robes, but some are donned in dark red or brown materials. The latter belong to stricter, more traditional sects. They all are, without exception, vegetarian, and are not allowed to drinking alcohol or to smoking. They go barefoot, especially during their pre-dawn alms-gathering round, or on simple sandals. Their robes are legally protected. A lay person who envelopes himself in a monk’s robe is punishable by law. Never do this at the occasion of a disguise-party, for example! It would be highly disrespectful for Thai people, and you would be severely sanctioned.

Women can not sit next to monks in public transport carriages. In the waiting rooms of airport lounges and train or bus stations, special sections are marked ‘for monks only’. Never occupy one of those privileged seats, unless you are a priest or imam in full attire.

Monks are not allowed to eat after 12 noon, until sunrise. Take this into account in case you should invite a monk. They are allowed to drink at any give time instead.

Buddhist temples, called ‘wat’, are public places and belong to the whole community, not to designated religious organizations. Everybody is allowed to visit them. Men must wear long trousers. Women should be dressed in knee-long skirts and should have their arms covered. Shoes must be taken off when entering a temple, and on the compound of Wat Phra Keo, Bangkok’s historic royal temple, open sandals are not allowed on the compound.

 
Early morning, around dawn, monks circle what westerners often call ‘alms-gathering rounds’. Actually, this term is not correct. Monks and nuns don’t work to ensure their living. They pray, study, meditate and fulfill religious ceremonies, in favour of the entire society. The civil society contributes to the monks’ lives by offering food and other basic daily needs, wrapped in little plastic bags which they deposit, sitting on their heels, in the big, black baskets the monks carry along on their morning outings. The donation is followed by a ‘wai’, the sign of respect (see below). The monks don’t thank the donors but continue their tour in complete silence. Instead, the people who donated thank the monks! This may seem bizarre, but is logical in the Buddhist philosophy. The monk gives the donor an opportunity to make a good deed. Giving offerings to monks is a good deed, and the donor should be thankful to be able to contribute and thus ‘make merit’.

If you have time and want to fix your alarm clock at 5 am, you can go and witness one of these early morning donation-ceremonies. The monk, completing his daily round in the vicinity of his wat, is usually accompanied by a youngster who belongs to the same wat. He probably is an abandoned child or an orphan who lives and studies in the temple and is taken care by the wat. As soon as an offering is deposited in the alms-box, the aid would take it out and add it to the previous ones accumulated in the plastic bucket he carries along while preceding the monk.

Back in the temple, the monks bring all the offerings together and sort them out to distribute them over all the temple inhabitants, monks, apprentice-monks, nuns and laymen.

 
It’s customary to invite monks at the occasion of important events, where they bless the ceremony and its subject. This ritual should be performed in the morning, and must be completed long before noontime. The monks pray on a lamenting tone in Pali, the old Sanskrit religious language. With a little imagination, it sounds a like Gregorian hymns! After the prayers, monks are offered a series of daily necessities (clothing for robes, food, washing and cleaning stuff, toilet paper…) and invited to a special banquet. Only when the monks have completed their meal and returned to their temple can the other guests start eating, which is usually around 12 noon.

Those important events blessed by the Buddhist cleric can be the establishment of a new company, the opening of a new office, an important career promotion, the blessing of a newly built house or the opening of a renovated restaurant, for instance.

Death-related rituals are also very different from those in Belgium.

When a person passes away, seven days of prayers are inaugurated, after which the deceased is cremated. During these ceremonies the guests are seated according to their social status. For the close family members, the most influential guests and the sponsor of the cremation ceremony, special distinguishable chairs are lined up on the first row. Monks sit on a platform elevated near the coffin. The prayers vary in length, according to the status of the deceased and the ceremony organized. During the intermissions snacks and drinks are brought in. As funeral rituals are mostly performed at late afternoons (after office hours, so that everybody can attend) snacks are not offered to the monks. Sometimes, the monks’ faces are hidden behind fans, symbolizing the fact they pray on everybody’s behalf, without making any distinction among the attendants.

Of course, clothing should be adequate at funerals. Everybody should wear white or black. Black trousers, a white shirt and a dark necktie are the uniform for men; women should dress in very dark colours, preferably in black.

A sponsor? Yes, it is customary to let the employer or important business associates sponsor the funeral ceremony. They pay for the expenses related to the temple and the religious activities, as well as for the drinks and snacks distributed to all attendants. These costs and the various contributions ensured by companies or individuals are specified on a big blackboard. The same habit is also in use during wedding ceremonies.