Het Boon yoo Vat

This morning Katherine and I went over to our friend (and tennis player) Tat's house for a special ceremony in honor of his mother.

His mom died 19 years ago, but at that time the family didn't have much money, and didn't do a large memorial for her or anything. 19 years later, Tat is quite successful as a Tennis player/teacher etc. So they were now in a position to do a proper rememberance for his mom. We got there at 10 am and caught the tail end of the Baci, then we all headed to the temple where his mom's ashes are kept in a small stupa.

They open up the Stupa and her ashes are there in a little pot. Then they dig a hole in the ground in front of it and bury some money (for luck, or something). Then there is chanting by an old man, followed by chanting by monks. Then we all did the pour the water blessing with the monks (you remember the pour the water blessing from the day I was blessed with Ae by the demanding nun). Then, they dug another hole, chanted over it and threw more money into it, then planted a large bamboo pole with a flag on it. All very ritualistic, and an interesting cultural event for us. People took turns approaching the stupa with the ashes in it and lighting candles, etc.

Of course, throughout we were wishing our camera wasn't sitting in our kitchen. Oh, well.

It is a bit cold and actually raining today. Rain, in February? Alas, yes. On our way home, Katherine was looking forward to getting into her sweats, having some hot cocoa, and sitting with a blanket to warm up and watch tv. When we got home, she checked the thermometer. 71 degrees. Downright freezing....

Now we are comfortably ensconced in our TV room, each with a blanket (and Katherine in her sweats and with her hot cocoa) and are watching Band of Brothers on dvd.