A City in Black and White

28 Nov 2008

Just in case you didn't know, the royal family in Thailand is HIGHLY revered. The King is the longest reigning monarch in the world (62 years) and the people absolutely LOVE him. For example, yellow is the King's color and Monday is yellow day. Each day has a color associated with it & people generally wear that color on the assigned day (Tuesday is pink). On Mondays you will see at least 1/3 of the population of Bangkok wearing yellow polo shirts, most with the King's logon on the breast. Also, before any movie at the theater, everyone stands up & they play the King's song & photos of the King flash on the screen. Not that many people would wear pink on Tuesday, until the King got sick & the day her wore pink he got better, so suddenly there were pink King polo shirts for sale everywhere & everyone was wearing pink on Tuesday.

Last March the King's older sister died. She was 86 and very beloved by the people. At that time large photos of her went up along the streets & they were drapped in black & white ribbons. The country morned! I asked about her funeral & was told that it would not happen immediately as special items needed to be made with special wood from certainly remote locations in Thailand. Nobody could tell me exactly when she would be buried. I saw an article in the newspaper in June, that the cremation building for the King's sister was on schedule for her Nov 16 funeral. So that is 8 months from her death.

As mid-November approached people began talking about the King's Sister's funeral. It was to last from November 14 to 16 I was told. There would be ceremonies at the
Grand Palace (the former residence of the Royal Family) & a park near there. I got a call from my Thai friend on the 13 telling me to be sure that I wear black for the next 3 days & if I don't have all black it is OK to wear black and white. She said it was very important. I like to be respectful of other cultures, so I dragged out the few black & white things I had.

When I ventured out on Nov 14 into the city, I could not believe that EVERYONE was wearing black & white. There was the occassional tourist who obviously didn't know
better, but everyone else was dressed in mourning. It is amazing to me that a city this large can have such a singular devosion to their royal family, I think it is very refreshing. Too bad they don't think as highly of there government (last night the airport was taken over by government protesters - we were supposed to be going to Borneo today, but here I sit still in Bangkok).

John & I watched the funeral prossion on TV (it was in Thai so I don't know what it was all about). The pomp was amazing. There were over 600 people involved, miltary & religious. They were dressed in traditional clothes. The structure that the King's Sister's casket was carried on was fantastic, covered with gold and gems - it shimmered in the sunlight like something surreal. It took one day to get her casket to the palace. Then the next day it was moved to the cremation building - specially built for this purpose (that is what took almost 8 months to build). On the 3rd evening the King arrived and lit the fire that would cremate his sister. There were more ceremonies on the 4th and 5th days as her remains were moved from one place to the next to the final resting place.

Through all of this the people of Bangkok wore black and white. We went to the mall one day & almost every dress on display was black and white. Black & white banners
were draped all over the city. Thousands of people came out to see what they could of the ceremonies. We attempted to get close one day, but it was impossible. Better to watch on TV. I was showing a friend from India around during this time & we could never get anywhere near the Grand Palace until her last day, 20 Nov. On that day our taxi happened to go by the park where the cremation building was (they don't burn it down, just burn the body), I thought it would be fun to get some photos, then I noticed the probably thousands of people in line circling the park waiting to get close to the building. It will be up for a few months, so I'll make that another journey.

I was impressed that an entire nation could come together & be so united in this occassion. One can only wonder what it will be like when the King dies!