Phuket names three venues for 16 December Queen Mother tribute ceremonies
Public sandalwood flower-offering ceremonies will be held at Wat Chalong, Wat Kathu and Wat Thepwanaram on 16 December.
Phuket will hold public sandalwood flower-offering ceremonies at three temples on 16 December as part of the royal cremation rites honouring the Queen Mother.
The designated venues are Wat Chalong, formally Wat Chaiyathararam, Wat Kathu and Wat Thepwanaram in Thalang. The ceremony at Wat Kathu is scheduled to begin at 9am. A merit-making ceremony for the ashes of the sandalwood flowers will be held at Wat Chalong on 17 December.
Preparations are under way at the venues. Vice Governor Romdon Hayiawae inspected Wat Chalong on 21 October with Chalong Mayor Samran Jindapon and other officials to review the site layout, public facilities and inter-agency coordination.
At Wat Kathu, a meeting chaired by Kathu District Chief Wittaya Jitsupap on 20 October discussed arrangements involving local authorities, government agencies and the private sector. A preliminary rehearsal is scheduled for 20 November, followed by a full dress rehearsal on 10 December.
Provincial agencies have also begun making sandalwood flowers, known as dok mai chan, for distribution to members of the public attending the December ceremonies. Personnel from the Phuket Juvenile and Family Court, Kathu Subdistrict Municipality and five agencies under the Ministry of Labour took part in making the flowers on 22 October.
The preparations followed a tribute ceremony at Phuket Provincial Hall on 24 October. The event began at 7.15am at the Mahison Phakdi Auditorium, where Deputy Governor Suwit Phansangiam served as lay chairman and Phra Wachirathammasophon, Deputy Ecclesiastical Provincial Governor of Phuket and abbot of Wat Thepwanaram, presided as senior monk.
The programme included Buddhist prayers, merit-making, the offering of robes and other requisites to monks, and a public sandalwood flower offering before a portrait of the Queen Mother. An alms-offering ceremony followed at 8.30am. Buddhist monks, government agency chiefs and other participants attended.
Officials also reviewed waste-management arrangements for the December events, including waste separation, food-waste reduction, adequate bins, rubbish clearance at Saphan Hin, resource recovery from old landfill sites and the possible conversion of suitable waste into refuse-derived fuel. Local administrative organisations were asked to coordinate ceremonial pavilions and food for members of the public.
