A Cultural Experience!

Today I attended my first cultural ceremony, and it was an interesting experience. I learned several surprising things about the culture here, and was both a keen observer and a participant in this ceremony. I kind of wish I could have been just the former, but the latter was part of the ceremony and its purpose, so I followed suit. Today was something called Wai Kru. Wai is what the Thai people do to show respect and it is where they bring their hands together in a prayer position and then slightly bow at you. I feel so ridiculous whenever anyone wai's (not sure if that is how thats spelt) at me, because I feel completely unworthy of their respect. I always feel very young, so it seems strange to me that parents wai at you, and some will do this without ceasing. I had a mom come to visit me simply because her daughter had told her how beautiful I was, so she quote "had to come see". The whole time she would wai every three seconds (approximately) and I felt so uncomfortable. I understand she was only trying to show respect, but it boggles my mind that I am a figure that someone thinks they should respect that much.

In Canada, teachers are not held in as high regard as teachers are here. Today's ceremony was a time for students to Wai to their kru. Kru is the word for teacher. The ceremony is a time where all students bring flowers to school for their teachers, and there is a ceremony held to present these flowers and to show their respect to their teachers. If this same ceremony was held in Canada, I have a feeling there would be a lot less participation.

Entering this ceremony, I was unsure what to expect. I knew that I was bringing my students and I knew the basic premise of the ceremony. I knew that I was not going to be going to the front until the primary teachers before me, so I was hoping that I would be able to follow their lead. Luckily, I made it through with no large social blunder and I successfully survived my first cultural ceremony. I must add that the announcing during the ceremony was taking place all in Thai, so it actually was a little confusing. With my very limited knowledge of Thai, and the fact that they were not saying hello or thank you, I was pretty much hooped. I hoped that I could recognize my English name somewhere in the ceremony preceded by Kru and then I would know it was time to do something. Luckily, I was given good direction by a fellow experienced teacher.

I find it very awkward to sit in front of a room full of people as students come forward and Wai to you. Maybe this will become less strange over time, but it is so unlike anything I have ever experienced, so it is a lot to take in. I think I associate their Wai-ing with bowing, when that is not what it is. It is simply a sign of respect to that person, but it seems to me that they are bowing at you. I don't like the feeling of being bowed at, and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I am not really sure if it is appropriate to Wai back at people, but I usually do. If they respect me, I can respect them too right? That's probably not how things are supposed to work, but I am not really sure anyways.

The most interesting part of this ceremony was what the students did as there were speeches and people presenting. They talked through the entire thing. I wondered why the presenter would even start talking when the room was not paying attention and was full of grades 1-6 students chatting away. I thought it was so rude, and was so confused. Sarah and I began hushing students, but quickly saw that most students were talking, not just one or two. I was informed that this is the way that people who are Thai will be during a ceremony. If parents are in attendance, they apparently will also talk. This is something that would be seen as rude and disrespectful in North American culture, but here it is tolerated and almost expected. I found it odd that we were in a ceremony that was centred around respect, but the students talked through the presenters and the founder of the school speaking. The only time that they were quiet was to sing some songs. I think they were anthems, but I am not entirely sure because most of the ceremony was in Thai so I was not quite sure what was going on.

Here are some photos of the lovely flowers I received from my students today! These are the ones I brought home, and I still had three bunches to decorate my classroom with!

Such beautiful colours!!