Wat a Surprise

June 21, 2007 |

After breakfast the next morning me and Nan drove into Phutthaisong to buy some gifts for the monks at the Wat. We got two iceboxes filled with stuff like torches, soap, and other trinkets, and at the market we got some fruit. Then we went home to pick up Nan’s mom.

We were going to a Wat in another village, as they, according to Mae, had a monk who was particularly good at predicting good wedding dates.

So we arrived at a small village Wat. 2-3 monks were cooling it under a tree on the grounds. So we walked up to them. And Nan explained what our business was.

We were then ushered into the small temple where our monk was sitting. Nan was ushered out again with a bucket in hand to fetch water.

Well inside we where given a small interview with the monk. He wanted our birth dates and time of day. And smiled and joked a lot. Quite a friendly fellow this monk I was thinking. Then we got down to business. Me and Nan presented our gifts. And the monk proceeded with dripping a melting candle into the bucket while chanting.

He then had a long look at the resulting patterns, stirred the water around a bit, and then got up to consult the calendar on the wall. He then sat back down, smiled and said:

“Tomorrow”

Nan translated for me, with a shocked expression on her face.

“Ahem…uh…that is a bit to soon. We were thinking more like September/October I piped up.”

And waited for Nan to translate, and she added that I was working in La-La land to make it sink in. She was as horrified as I was.

The monk smiled and told us that the rainy season retreat would start in one week, and all the monks would be in their Wat until the end of October, Nobody could get married during that period. Besides, by then maybe it was no love left. So why not do it now?

We insisted it was to soon for us. There is paperwork to be done, and we needed time to prepare. We both sighed. This was not going to good.

The monk relented, pulled out a piece of paper and pen, and drew some lines and wrote something on it. Then he consulted his wall calendar once more.

“In two days”

Me and Nan looked at each other. And smiled simultaneously.

“Can we do it it” - I asked

“I think so”

“Do you want to do it now?”

“Yes, can!” (Big smile).

So we agreed, wedding in two days. We’d just have to do the paperwork later!

Then things got busy and ceremonial again. The monks chanted for a while, and splashed water on the two of us. When it was all over, Nan and her mom poured the water from the bucket into some soda cans, as it was now holy or something like that.

We got back to the car. Got inside.

“Teerak, I we are getting married in two days!”

“Yes am know. I think we busy” - she smiled.

“We certainly are busy. Can we do it, arrange everything in two days?”

“Sure can” she smiled.

So we got busy arranging our wedding