Sy Baat/ Tam Boon--Making Merit.

Honoring tradition, I got up at the wee hours of the morning to feed the monks before I left my village. It is part of what is "making merit" or tam boon in Thai Buddhist culture. This is traditional to do especially when you leave a place and/or go somewhere new.  It is something a lot of villagers do every day.  They wake up at 5 AM to make rice for when the monks make their rounds ( I think some call it the walk of poverty?)  and start chores for the day.  Without fail, the monks will walk just after dawn.  It's part of their daily ritual.  Anyways, you can't see it in the pics below but, what happens is the monks come to your house and if you have rice ready to offer, you stand by the side of the road (have to take you shoes off for respect) And, one by one, you fill their bowls with rice until it's gone.  Then, you sit and bow with your hands in a prayer position and they say a prayer for you in Pali--which is an ancient language similar to Sanskrit.  Usually, it is something like--may good come to you, may you find the right path, may your heart be pure and true...something like that.  It's actually quite lovely.