Thailand grieves in elaborate farewell to King Bhumibol
BANGKOK (AP) — Tearful Thais clad in black mourned on Bangkok’s streets or at viewing areas around the nation yesterday as elaborate funeral ceremonies steeped in centuries of royal tradition were held for King Bhumibol Adulyadej following a year of mourning.
Three separate and intensely solemn processions involving the current king, thousands of troops, a golden palanquin, a chariot and a royal gun carriage carried a ceremonial urn representing Bhumibol’s remains from the Dusit Maha Prasad Throne Hall to the newly built crematorium.
The journey along a two-kilometer route was watched in person by tens of thousands of mourners dressed all in black. It was also being broadcast on most Thai TV stations and could be seen at dozens of designated viewing areas across the country.
Before dawn, 63-year-old Somnuk Yonsam-Ar sat on a paper mat in a crowd opposite the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Her granddaughter slept in her lap and her husband rested his head against a metal barrier. The family came from the coastal province of Rayong, where they run a food stall.
Somnak waved a fan to cool herself but said she was not tired.
“I feel blessed to be able to sit here, and be part of this,’’ she said. “It’s an important day for us.’’
The funeral for Bhumibol will take place over five days and began on Wednesday with his son King Maha Vajiralongkorn performing Buddhist meritmaking rites before chanting monks and officials in immaculate white uniforms.
Bhumibol will be cremated today within a golden edifice built over a year and representing mystical Mount Meru, where Buddhist and Hindu gods are believed to dwell.
Deceased Thai royals have traditionally been kept upright in urns during official mourning. But Bhumibol, who spent much of his early life in the West, opted to be put in a coffin, with the royal urn placed next to it for devotional purposes.
The urn was at the center o fyesterday’s processions, including one led by Vajiralongkorn in which the golden container was placed upon the Great Victory Chariot. Built in 1795 and made of gilded and lacquered carved wood, the chariot has been used to carry the urns of royal family members dating to the start of the Chakri dynasty.
As the chariot, pulled by hundreds of men in traditional red costumes, passed the mourners lining the parade route, they prostrated themselves, pressing their folded hands and head on the ground in a show of reverence for the late monarch.