- Title: THAILAND: MONKS HELP GRIEVING THAIS FREE THE SPIRITS OF RELATIVES LOST IN TSUNAMI
- Date: 18th January 2005
- Summary: (BN10) KHAO LAK, THAILAND (JANUARY 18, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV OF HOUSES DESTROYED BY TSUNAMI 0.04 2. SLV MONKS PRAYING UNDER MAKESHIFT TENT 0.10 3. MCU MONKS SINGING PRAYER IN FRONT OF ALTAR 0.16 4. SV OF ALTAR 0.21 5. CU CANDLES AND INCENSE BURNING ON ALTAR 0.27 6. SLV/SV/CU OF MONKS CHANTING PRAYER AND BANGING DRUMS (4 SHOTS) 0.43 7. SLV USA MUENTHAI AND FAMILY LISTENING TO PRAYERS OUTSIDE TENT 0.48 8. MCU USA CRYING AS SHE STANDS BY THE BOAT OF HER MISSING MOTHER 0.53 9. MCU (Thai) USA MUENTHAI SAYING: "Maybe we will have the chance to find out where she is, maybe we will have the chance to call the spirit back. We don't know how to find her, we tried many ways, we couldn't recognize the body. We have searched everyday from the first day (after tsunami struck) until now." 1.12 10. CU USA HOLDING FISHING LINE TAKEN FROM BOAT 1.16 11. SV VILLAGERS LISTENING TO PRAYERS 1.22 12. PAN DESTROYED HOUSE NEXT TO TEMPLE 1.32 13. SV/CU OF LOCAL VILLAGERS PRAYING WITH MONKS (4 SHOTS) 1.53 14. CU VILLAGERS CARRYING PAPER MONEY AND PAPER CLOTHES TO BURN (USED IN RITUAL TO RELEASE SPIRITS) 1.57 15. SV/SLV VILLAGERS BURNING PAPER MONEY AND CLOTHES ON BEACH (3 SHOTS) 2.12 16. MCU WOMAN WEEPING WHILE BURNING PAPER CLOTHES 2.16 17. SV/SLV PEOPLE GATHERED ROUND FIRES AS THEY BURN THEIR OFFERINGS (2 SHOTS) 2.25 18. SV/MCU MONKS CONTINUE RITUAL TO RELEASE SPIRITS (2 SHOTS) 2.38 19. SLV MONKS BLESSING KRATHONG (FLOATS MEANT TO FREE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD) 2.43 20. LV SUNSET ON SHORES OF VILLAGE 2.48 21. SLV/LV OF VILLAGERS WALKING THROUGH DARKNESS TOWARDS SHORE HOLDING KRATHONG WITH LIT CANDLES (3 SHOTS) 3.06 22. SLV/LV OF VILLAGERS RELEASING KRATHONG IN WATER (5 SHOTS) 3.39 23. CU/LV KRATHONGS FLOATING ON WAVES (2 SHOTS) 3.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KHAO LAK, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Reuters ID: LVAAROI86E4EX3RZJQ7YOTW4A9AR
- Story Text: Monks help grieving Thais free the spirits of
relatives lost in Tsunami.
Chanting under a colourful temporary temple set
amongst the rubble of battered Ban Nam Khem fishing
village, Thai monks prayed on (Tuesday 18) to free the
spirits of those killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Thousands were killed when the giant waves hit the
village, and many locals believe that their spirits cannot
rest until they have been freed by the monks.
Usa Menthai listened to the Monks chants in tears,
standing by a shattered fishing boat built by her mother
who was lost in the waves.
She doesn't know if her mother's body is lying amongst
the thousands of corpses being kept at a makeshift morgue
in Khao Lak, or buried undiscovered beneath houses
demolished by the surging water.
Usa believes her mother's spirit will visit them and
tell them where to find her body once the ceremony is
completed.
"Maybe we will have the chance to find out where she
is, maybe we will have the chance to call the spirit back.
We don't know how to find her, we tried many ways, we
couldn't recognize the body. We have searched every day
from the first day until now," she said, clutching a reel
of fishing wire she has recovered from the wreckage of the
fishing boat.
The fishing village Ban Nam Khem was one of the worst
affected when the waves struck Khao Lak- locals say at
least half of the 5,000 people that lived there lost their lives in
the
disaster.
Because the tsunami struck suddenly, many believe the
spirits of those killed have been trapped, unaware that
they are dead.
Families say they hear voices of lost relatives
screaming, or see ghostly figures walking the debris-strewn
shoreline.
They hope the ceremony - in which they burned paper
money and clothes that the dead are said to need in the
afterlife - will show spirits how to move on.
As night falls, they carry candle-lit floats called
krathongs to the shoreline and release them into the sea,
believing they will carry away with them the spirits of the
dead.
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