Good Karma (900th Post)

I had a very different sort of Black Friday in 2020. Instead of going out and hunting for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving (most definitely not a thing here in Thailand), I joined my fiancée and her family for a special ritual that is very important to my grandmother-in-law. For my blog's 900th post, I wanted to share this family tradition that I felt very proud to be a part of.

🙏 🐮 🏵️

Granny blessing our cow

On a sunny Friday morning, my Thai family packed ourselves into a car and set out to the outskirts of Bangkok to join my fiancée's Yai (Thai for "grandmother") in a tradition that is very close to her heart.

lucky cows

For several decades, my fiancée's grandmother, a retired singer, has raised funds through her television and radio programs to purchase and rescue cows from a good karma charity foundation. She's raised funds to save over 800 cows, which instead of being sent to a slaughterhouse are "retired" to a farm where they will live a long life as working cows. 

my fiancée learning about the tradition from Yai

My fiancée's family's patron deity is the Chinese goddess Guanyin, and according to this article in the Bangkok Post, followers of Guanyin and Ganesh believe it is a sin to eat beef. While her family isn't so strict about this, they tend to avoid eating beef. 

Learn more here: https://medium.com/get-sneak/why-thai-people-dont-eat-beef-16b570935659

holy water and marigolds as a blessing

We arrived at the foundation early in the morning, and were taken out back to where the rescued cows were being kept. First, we had to give "our" cow a blessing with holy water and marigolds. To do this, we used a bundle of sticks, the kind that Buddhist monks use when casting water around in a mass blessing, to drop the saffron flower petals and holy water on the cow's head.

carrying on the tradition

It wasn't just my first time to join in this ritual, it was the first time for my fiancée and her sister as well! Yai has been wanting to pass on the family tradition, and we have all agreed to join her every few months when she goes to make merit (doing good acts in order to accumulate good karma).

a family photo

After the blessing, we offered some snacks to the cow: big leafy fronds of some sort of plant that they seemed to really love.

a tasty snack

they say that happy cows come from California, but these ladies seemed happy here in Thailand

she will get to work on a farm

A worker splashed some green paint on the back of the cow, marking it as "rescued". 

Saving lives is one of the most noble acts in Buddhism, and rescuing cows (considered sacred in Hinduism, which has some influence on Theravada Buddhism) is a powerful act of good karma. Accumulating karma through one's deeds is one of the central tenants of the religion: one is expected to live a good life full of good deeds. It's popular to "make merit" by freeing animals such as fish and birds at temples.

marking our cow

Instead of buying into consumerism on Black Friday (which isn't even a thing in Thailand), we made a whole day out of our good merit activities. After spending the morning at the foundation, we went to a nearby market.

a local fresh market

There, Yai set about purchasing bags of aquatic animals to be released at a temple.  Instead of being killed for food, these fish, frogs, eels, and snails would be released into the river at a temple, where fishing and killing animals is forbidden. 

She also bought a few lottery tickets. It's never a bad idea to try to cash in on one's good karma, I suppose!

      

The temple was quiet. While the sun was hot and bright, there was a slight, pleasant breeze. Before releasing the fish, we met with the temple's abbot to deliver donations for the monks. Monks are not allowed to own money or make purchases for themselves, instead relying on donations from others. You can buy these "monk packages" at the supermarket which contain orange robes, soap, razor blades, matches, and other essentials. We had picked a few of these up, along with some extra robes, and offered them to the monk. In return, he splashed water over our heads and chanted a blessing as Pinky, her sister, and I knelt before him.

Another post fro about donating to a temple: https://michaeldesrosiers.blogspot.com/2020/06/forest-zen-in-nakhon-nayok.html

at the temple

Then, using a foldable handcart, we hauled our bags and buckets of critters from the car to the canal which ran through the temple grounds. This is where we would free the animals back into their natural habitat where they can live and grow safely.

the khlong, or canal, where we would free the fish

making merit

Here's a good article with more information about freeing animals for merit and what each creature represents in Thai culture: https://thaiest.com/blog/animal-release-for-making-merit-in-thailand

Every animal has a special meaning. For example, we released some frogs, which represent atoning for past mistakes.

     

Eels are to pray for good fortune and good finances, and are said to bring blessings of wealth and prosperity. River snails are to take away unhappiness, and we dumped a whole bag of Thailand's endemic snails into the khlong. I hope that 2021 is going to bring lots of success and happiness!

We released several bags of fish too, but I don't know what species they were. I can only assume that they must all carry some good meanings!

It was a fun day, and I loved the chance to explore an aspect of Thai culture that I hadn't seen before. I know that it meant a lot to Yai as well, to pass on a precious tradition to her family.

Happy Good Karma Friday!

As always, thank you so much to my readers who have been following my adventures in Thailand and around the world for the past eight years and 900 posts! Please enjoy this short bonus film of clips that I shot at the cow rescue foundation and while releasing fish, eels, frogs, and snails at the temple.