This morning was an early morning, first I had a 14km run and by 7am we were expected at Bophud Temple or Wat Bo Phuttaram in Bophud for a Royally endorsed 'Tod Katin' or ทอดกฐินพระราชทาน พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว and as part of the ceremony, our eldest daughter would participate in a classic Thai dance.
Posing in front of the car in front of the procession with holey relics
The 'Tod Katin' event take place on a regular base around he country. It's a ceremony during which money is handed over to a certain temple, so they an build something new or fix something broken or just maintain the Temple in question. The money in question is donated by local people and many times you can see small money trees in shops or restaurants and the like.
Money flower
The Royally sponsored events, like this one today, are a lot more rare. The idea and principle are still the same though and today it was thought to have at least generated one million Thai Baht.
A more classic money tree
The way part of the money is collected is a rather unique Thai way; so called 'money trees' are being delivered to the Temple and since this was such a big event, some of the money trees actually had taken on different shapes, of which some samples can be seen here and on my Koh Samui Info Blog Facebook page.
Posing in front of the money trees
There was a fairly long procession between Bophud school and the Bophud temple and some of the traffic today got held up this morning, between the school and the temple between 8.30 and 9am.
Island officials including the vice mayor
It was an interesting event to witness though and once back in the Temple, there were free drinks, ranging from water and Thai tea variations to herbal juices.
Have money will travel
Don't forget that we're in Thailand and a free meal was also provided, with a dozen or so different options available, ranging from Khanom Chin to Pad Thai, among others.
On the go
All money trees are being hand carried from the school to the temple and was the procession had arrived, all money trees where diverted to a part of the temple where all moneys were being harvested off the trees and counted, to go into a bank account tomorrow.
Blocking the road
It was great to being able to take plenty of pictures and in a rather unusual move, I have posted a lot more pictures of this event than I usually do. So scroll along down the page and enjoy the pictures.
At the entrance to the Temple, two women at each side of the entrance were throwing flowers on the procession participants
A 'Por' or 'older monk' handing out Buddhist amulets which caught a lot of attention and many people went up to him to get an amulet
The money is gathered at the temple and ready to be 'harvested' and counted
More counting and taking the money forest down
The harvest has been collected
Sure hope you enjoyed these very typical Thai pictures. Tomorrow I will write a follow up about the Manora dance drama that originates from Southern Thailand and has very specific clothing and dance passes and rituals.
Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!
Camille
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