Today’s video shows us a young Thai man’s initiation ceremony into a period of monkhood. This is an ancient ritual in Thailand and a ceremony that is very much felt especially in the rural areas of the country that brings young people, upon reaching a certain age or on the occasion of a special event, to go and serve in a temple participating fully in monastic life.
Once the ceremony you can observe in the pictures is over, the young man will retire to the temple and begin to pace his day according to the monks’ rhythms and rules. Waking up before dawn, then, the morning quest among the village houses where the faithful are waiting for their arrival to donate food offerings, the last meal by noon, and lots and lots of prayer and meditation. An experience that will not fail to impart a sense of discipline to young people and to accustom them as much as possible to the sacrifices of life.
For those of us, on the other hand, who watch from the outside, a ceremony at times even compelling that will immerse us in the soul of Thai culture where, according to ancient rituals, the search for wisdom and spirituality is intertwined with the vitality of youth in a confrontation, which in the long run will prove unequal, with the seductions of the modern world.
