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Traditions & Customs
The most important thing that you must know while visiting Thailand is Wai or the Thai mode of greeting. The Thais join the palms of their hands and bow their heads in order to show a respectful greeting. However such greetings are not to be used for a child! There are yet many other things about Thailand's customs and traditions, the knowledge of which would prove beneficial to the tourists. Here are a few of them: Apart from greeting each other with the Wai gesture, the people of Thailand address to the elders by adding a Pi before their names. On the other hand, nong is added before the name of a child to show endearment. Head is considered to be the highest and purest part of human body by the Thai people. Therefore, pointing at someone or touching someone with feet is considered to be highly disrespectful. It is for the same reason that stepping on the Thai coin that contains the king's head or sitting in a temple with feet pointed to the religious icon is considered sacrilegious. It is mandatory to open one's footwear before entering a temple or a house. Finding heaps of shoes in front of a shop or a restaurant in Thailand is a usual phenomenon. The custom of eating food is also singular. Tradition demands that there should be several dishes on the table and the guest is expected to taste a little bit of everything. Public display of affection by couples is forbidden by the Thai custom. Women are supposed to make way for Buddhist monks so as to prevent an accidental physical contact. It has been the tradition of Buddhist families in Thailand to send the boy to endure a 3 months monk hood when they were 20 years of age. Traditional Buddhist marriages demand that the couple must at first bow before the idol of Buddha. Also, the presence of a monk during a marriage ceremony was considered to be ominous. Thai funerals usually last for a week and the grieved are requested not to cry so that the soul of the departed is not troubled. The monks chant hymns and the after the cremation of the body, the ashes were put in an urn and kept in a Chedi in the local temple.