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Doy (dressing and laying out of the corpse)

Soon after death the corpse was cleaned and dressed in new clothes by
the immediate relatives living in or visiting the house of the deceased.
One of the ritual acts was the `bathing of the corpse', which consisted of
pouring water on the deceased's hands. This rite is usually performed
by the kinsmen present, especially the luug-laan (children and grand
children). (We are already familiar with the ritual act of bathing and
pouring water in Songkran rites; as in those rites, here, too, it is said
that the living pay their respects to and ask forgiveness of the deceased.
Also it is said that the corpse is cleansed for the passage of its winjan to
heaven.) The hands and feet of the corpse were tied together with thread,
and the body was laid out face up on a mat and pillow in a sleeping
attitude.

A coin (one baht) was put in the deceased's mouth, which was then
closed with beeswax. (This is to enable him `to buy his way up to heaven'
and purchase a house and land there.) A pair of flowers and a pair of
candles (`everything is done in pairs') and a 2-baht note were placed in
the hands, tied together in the waj (worshipping) position. (The money
serves the same purpose as the coin in the mouth; `the candles and
flowers will be used by the deceased to worship Buddha'.)

The corpse was laid out with the head pointing west. (This means that
he has already gone to the new world. `Normally when we are alive we
point our heads to the east when we sleep. The dead are pointed in the
opposite direction.' West is the direction of death.)

The visible orifices—the eyes and the mouth—were closed by means
of wax. (`This is to prevent the living members of the family from losing
interest in life. For they know that finally they too will die in the same way.')

At the head of the corpse were placed a number of ritual articles.
(Informants said that all the things the deceased used when alive were
put near the coffin so that they might not forget to take them to the
cemetery. When these objects are placed at his head, the living say: `The
articles that you used, we give them to you to take away' (khong cao kei
chai, kha hai pai).) The objects were: (1) the mattress and blanket he
used when alive (these will be taken to the cemetery and burned with the
corpse); (2) a basket containing a dish of rice and another of fish and
chilli (`for the winjan to eat'); (3) a vessel containing water (`for the
winjan to drink'); (4) some clothes (for the deceased to wear in heaven);
(5) a knife (to be given to the monks for use in the temple); and (6) a red
cloth (which is later to be used to cover the coffin—pha pok heep).

3 Bun Phraawes festival: the great story of Wesandaun is recited from the decorated pulpit; the painted
cloth draped at the back depicts the story (see Chapters 10 and 12)

khwan ceremony being performed for two pregnant women, who are wearing head
cotton and are sitting to the right of the officiant (paahm) who is reciting with hands
the attitude of worship and with the palm-leaf text in front of him. In the centre
ecorated phakhwan and food offerings, lustral water, etc. (see Chapter 13)

4b Women worshipping on the Buddhist Sabbath at the wat

At the head and feet a string was tied to posts just above the corpse, and
on this string was draped a white cloth called the pha hak hua. (It was
compared by the abbot to the five precepts—`the mourners wish the
dead body to be pure as the white cloth'.) The anthropologist, however,
notes other symbolic meanings. The white cloth above the corpse is later
also used to cover the coffin and is finally given to a monk as the bansakula
cloth. White signifies death; it is also ideally the proper colour for a layman
to wear to the temple. The red cloth (which is also used later to cover the
coffin) is brought home directly after the cremation, and is later purified
by the monks. It thus represents normal secular life and its continuation.

The place where the corpse is laid out has symbolic significance in
relation to the values attached to different parts of the house (see Chapter 2).
It lies in the centre of the huean yaai (the `large house' which is the
sleeping room), bridging or straddling the `invisible' barrier between
the parents' room (hong peueng), which is the eastern half, and the room
of the married daughter and son-in-law (hong suam), which is the western
half. Death obliterates the taboos that surround the huean yaai in ordinary
life; normally closed to distant kin and outsiders, the most sacred part
of the house is thrown open to all mourners. Furthermore, the position
of the corpse—head to the west lying in the son-in-law's quarter, and
feet to the east lying in the parents' quarter—is a reversal of the normal
auspicious directions, and especially in the case of parents is a `denigration'
of the dead body.

The death had been reported to relatives and the headman, the latter
of whom in turn is said to have instructed villagers to help the bereaved
household. (This highlights the norm that death requires the participation
of the community.) People of the village, kin and non-kin, assembled to
`make the coffin' and help conduct the mortuary rites. A large gathering
of all ages was present, and many household heads contributed money
gifts ranging from 1 to 5 baht. These amounts were meticulously noted
down.

Old women of the mother category (mae) prepared cigarettes and
betel-nut packets; the young women—both married and unmarried—
cooked food; and the men of all ages constructed the coffin and decorated
it. When the coffin was ready it was carried into the house and the corpse,
with the mat and clothes, was put into it. Four paper flags were stuck in
its corners, and all the paper money contributed by the mourners was
stuck on bamboo sticks, which were then planted in its sides.

Some of the men, mostly young, were entrusted with the task of cutting
firewood in the forest and making a pyre at the place of cremation there.
Once they had gone into the forest they would not be allowed to return

home until the cremation was over. (If they did, they would carry disease
to their relatives.)

In the mid-morning monks and novices arrived to chant and were
presented with food. It was after lunch that a long spell of chanting took
place, two sets of chants being recited. The first was suad kusala, which
said that whatever merit and demerit the deceased had acquired, might
the merit increase and the demerit disappear. The next was the suad jod
muk, recited by two monks. (We were told by the abbot that it `tells the
winjan of the deceased the way to heaven'. A second interpretation of
this particular suad was given by a layman, and this is the fullest interpretation
we recorded. He said that at death the four elements, tat winjan
(soul), and khan ha (body and mind) become scattered. The recitation
of the suad by two monks has the purpose of calling together these elements
and reconstituting them;[1] at the same time the way to heaven is indicated.
All the chants were in a general sense meant to give merit (haj bun) to
the dead.)