Funeral
งานศพ or "GNAN SOP" means ceremony for deceased persons. A feast is organised to honor the deceased person. The ceremony date is scheduled by monks.
When somebody dies, the corpse is kept 7 days in the house before the cremation. During six evenings, monks come and pray. On the coffin, light garlands and a picture of the deceased person can be found. For poorer people, the dead body can be cremated between 3 to 7 days. The formalin used to reduce body decomposition is expensive for poor people.
Guests come, often dressed with dark clothes and sometimes a white shirt. Everybody greet each other. Waiters offer water or coke. From the first to the sixth day, monks come every evening around 7 p.m. On the seventh day cremation happens during the afternoon. Usually 4 monks are coming during the evening prayers. But number can vary depending on the status and rank of the deceased person. Then they summon incantations in Pali language during 30 minutes. When prayers are over, a car brings the monks back to their temple.
For important funeral, the family might rent some Traditional Thai orchestra.
The corpse is burnt inside the temple in a big and tall chimney (พิธีฌาปนกิจ - cremation). For up-country temples, which do not have a special building with an oven, the corpse is burnt outdoors. That can lead to horrible scenes when the coffin explodes due to the fire and the corpse appears like a living dead. That is why in old days, pregnant women were not allowed to see outdoor cremations. Such a scene could have frightened them and cause problems to the baby.
When paying homage to the deceased person, one makes the Thai greeting or "WAI" (ไหว้) with one incense stick only. One stick is used for deceased person and three sticks are used for Buddha. The crematorium is also called funeral pyre (เมรุตั้งศพ).