Wat Tha Maprang has brought the Buddhist coffin ritual ceremony into new territory by offering Furby-stamped coffins.
The temple in Phitsanulok’s Muang district has been conducting the ceremony for six years, offering participants empty coffins to lie in and receive blessings from monks. Some Buddhists believe that lying down in the coffins and rising back up again constitutes a symbolic rebirth in which they leave behind their bad luck.
With the help of the playful Furby, a robotic toy that has rapidly grown in popularity in Thailand, this year’s ceremony has lured many young children to experience the coffin ritual with their parents.
The acting abbot of Wat Tha Maprang told Krobkruakao that the ceremony was aimed at fundraising for impoverished families who could not afford a coffin for their loved ones. It would also remind attendants of death, thereby making them mindful of the present moment.
