Visiting Wat Thai for Connor's Birthday

We went to Wat Thai for Connor's birthday today. We got there at 9:30am, which is somewhat early for us, so that we could put food in the monks' bowls as they walked through the temple grounds.

We had to wait a little bit before the monks made it to us. There were lots of people.

There was a line of at least 15 monks. Once they made their way to us, Connor wanted to put every thing he could into their alms bowl.

So what exactly is Connor doing by putting stuff into a bowl? It's a Buddhist tradition and one of the many ways of "merit making". Basically he's doing a good deed by giving food to the monks. It's believed that giving alms and doing good deeds will lead to a better life now and in the next lifetime.



After all the monks walked by, Connor headed up to the temple to have a monk tie a "sai sin", a blessed piece of string, around his wrist. What's the purpose of wearing the string? Nothing really. It's just a blessing received from a respected elder. In most cases, it's blessed and put on by a Buddhist monk.

Some people wear it until it naturally comes apart and falls off believing that a wish you made will come true. It's kind of like blowing out a candle on your birthday.