Death Ways Thailand
A write up of Tucson Online MST Friendly & Fearless Death Cafe
Death customs across the globe vary but also share many elements. The story of a father’s send off in Thailand was shared at Cafe this week. On the third day of community ritual a pickup truck carried the casket and a large photo of the deceased and paraded slowly through the town on the way to the crematorium. All the villagers came out to line the streets, including mother’s with babes in arms, whether familiar with the person or not, to do the very important life ritual of seeing off the dead. Some of us thought this was a lovely idea and would wish the same for ourselves, but other Death Cafe participants weren’t so sure. As the casket entered the crematory flames the community held space as witness. One attendee experienced a similar ritual in the US and said the experience, although unfamiliar, proved to be calming and meaningful. Well enacted death rituals are centered around the dead, but do so much for the living. They help begin the work of reconciling loss, recognizing and normalizing death’s universality, and most beautifully bringing forward the community heart to hold the grieving in it’s loving arms.