Eleven members of the Wild Boar youth soccer team, who spent more than two grueling weeks trapped in Chiang Rai’s Luang cave, will be ordained as novice monks tomorrow to honor former SEAL Samarn Kunan, who died during a mission to rescue them.
In an initial ceremony today, the boys, who wore simple white outfits, had their heads shaved as per tradition. Tomorrow, they will be ordained as novice monks at Phra That Doi Wai temple, where they will remain in yellow robes for nine days.
One member of the team, Adul Sam-on, the stateless teen who won praise for his English skills, will not join the ceremony due to his Christian faith.
Their 25-year-old coach Ekapol Chanthawong, meanwhile, will be ordained as a monk for an undetermined amount of time, reported Thairath.
The young coach is no stranger to life within temple walls, having already spent several years as a novice monk. When Ekapol lost his parents at the age of 10, the newly orphaned boy was taken in by a monk who provided him with shelter and education at a temple in northern Lamphun province, according to Siam Sport.
In Thai Buddhism, it is a long-standing tradition for males who have experienced dire hardship or misfortune to be ordained and live in a monastery — either temporarily or permanently. This is believed to bring merit onto themselves, their families, and anyone to whom the ordained wish to dedicate the merit.
In this case, their merit is being dedicated to Samarn Kunan, the 38-year-old former Thai Navy SEAL, who lost his life placing oxygen tanks along the cave escape passage.
It is a common Thai belief that monkhood is the best way to cleanse one’s spirit — as captured by the popular Thai saying “clinging to the edge of the yellow robe to heaven.”
The ceremony will be broadcast live via the Chiang Rai Public Relations Facebook page.
Reader Interactions