Funeral rites provide a framework for dealing with death as an emotional and social rupture. The treatment and movement of the corpse, and the roles of various social groups and ritual specialists give important indications about how death is ‘processed’ by society. This film follows a Buddhist funeral in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, and presents an ethnographic account of the ritual domain and the spaces of death such as crematoria. It portrays the visits of Buddhist monks to the house of the deceased, the rituals of separation between the living and the dead, the communal eating of the mourners and the final procession to the cremation ground. The film also depicts practical aspects of funerals and the everyday life of morticians who work in the crematoria. Interviews with these men give an insight into their unusual occupation and society’s perception of what they do. They discuss topics such as tattoos which protect them from the dangers associated with death, spirits and bones and thereby provide an unusual perspective on funeral culture and spaces of death.
A film by Patrice Ladwig, Vhatchai Suban and Maneekan Chainon
60 minutes. Thai with English subtitles. 2009 Black Monkey Studios, Chiang Mai
