Ordination of a Buddhist monk in Thailand

Thai Buddhist > Monk Ordination > Photo Album 01


The pictures on the following pages show a typical ordination ceremony for a young male adult (20 plus) becoming a monk. One of the first tasks is the shaving of the head. The young man's parents first cut a symbolic piece of hair before other elderly relatives are invited to do the same. Then, the rest of the hair is shaved off by a skilled man.

You can see in these photos that the hair doesn't just drop to the ground. All of it is carefully collected into a big round container made of a lotus leaf. In the final picture, you can see that the young man's appearance has completley changed in just a few minutes. He looks very different without any hair or eyebrows.

You can watch 3 video clips of the hair cutting ceremony.

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