Thai Ladies who Lunch

Everyday, in small towns and villages throughout Thailand, there are people (almost all of them women) who take food to the monks in their local wat. Often the monk is a relative, but not always. I knew a woman who took lunch to her brother every day he was 'at home' in the wat for more than 60 years. She never married and you could say she dedicated her life to her brother and his calling to the monkhood. He died last year, aged well over 80, and his sister survived him for less than 6 months. That is what you would call true dedication.

Here are a few photos I took on a couple of visits to the wat nearest to our house, the famous Wat Phra Lao Thepnimit, home to the beautiful image of Phra Lao. These first three pictures were taken of women who had not been told that the monks they had come to offer lunch had all gone out and were being offered food elsewhere. I must say these two women took the news very well. I suppose they ate what they had brought.

They were soon joined by three more women who posed a bit more formally:

 

This latecomer seemed quite pleased to find that her journey (a short one, she lives almost next to the wat) was a wasted one:

 

And this grandmother is able to discharge more than one responsibility at the same time:

 

This last picture was taken on a happier day, when the abbot was at his kuti and able to accept the offerings and then sit and talk with his supporters while they ate their lunch:

 
 

 

 

Comments

[Mike]

Lawrence love the title.....so British. Now I have never seen this here in Nong Hin.

I know you called it ladies who lunch but presumably the food is for the monks who do not eat after 12 so what time are the shots taken?

Great pics too.

[Lawrence]

Glad you liked the title, Mike. It took me a while to come up with it.

Well, on a day like in the last picture, there's too much for the one monk, so when he has eaten what he needs (or a bit more than that, perhaps) he then invites everyone present to share the rest. He may have been joined by one or two other monks. So after they watch him eat, he watches them eat. Followed by chat, gossip, advice-seeking and so on. That's the life of a village monk. Provided he is popular, of course, and/or he has lots of relatives. The women usually sit in little groups and share each other's food. It's a nice life for all concerned, if you ask me. Picture taken about 11.15.

We didn't stay to eat, by the way. You can see Pensri busily making notes. We had gone to invite the abbot to our Tam Boun. More of him in my next post -- he surprised us.