พิธีไหว้ครู wai kru ceremony

as i am finding teaching more of a stress than a heart-warming source of pride and joy, i was quite looking forward to the prospect of a whole day dedicated to honoring the grueling hours us teachers put in for the selfless cause of filling young minds with knowledge. the actual ceremony was somewhat of an anticlimax, given that we spent weeks and weeks preparing for it. not that i’m complaining about the hours of practice that cut into my classtime…the two hours that wai kru practice took out of every few days for the past weeks were definitely the best hours of my day, sitting in the shade watching cute little kids perfecting their bows in front of the teachers really beats standing in front of my class hearing myself repeat the abc’s over and over, intermittently raising my voice every few letters for the necessary exclamations of “sit down!” “no jumping off tables!” and “it’s not nice to hit our friends!” to keep the kiddos at least semi in order. not quite as cute up close in contained classrooms as they are when eloquently practicing their wai kru bows… but after so much intensivepractice to perfect the singing (beautiful!) and line reciting and praying to Buddha and bowing to the teachers and offering the flowers and candles, i came to school on thursday happy to be there, excited for the prospect of a day of ceremony and celebration and festivities, with not even the slightest thought of teaching, only to find out (after having to teach before and after the much too short ceremony) that i had been sorely mistaken in my expectations for the day.



aside from my personal whining about not getting a day off from teaching, the ceremony is beautiful, and the little ballerinas and thai dancers that performed are adorable and i really enjoy the traditional ceremony music. it would be nice if the foreign teachers got informedat least a little about what was going on though. with no real knowledge of Buddhism or thai customs, our small group of farang teachers is shunned to the side of the ceremony, completely in the dark (as usual) about what is going on. we’re used to it. the lack of communication is now understood as a given that comes with the territory.


i later find out, through my own investigations, that wai kru ceremony, or teacher appreciation day, is a traditional thai ceremony held in the beginning of the school year for the students to show gratitude and establish a respectful and formal student-teacher relationship. the ceremony is traditionally held on a thursday as this is the day of brihaspati, vedic god of wisdom and teachers. student representatives present the teachers with offerings of various flowers(symbolizing student qualities of wit, humility, and discipline), candles, and joss sticks presented on a thai tray called a phan. thank god for wikipedia…