Worship

The smell of the incense, the sound of the chanting, the haze of the candle smoke, the vivid colors of the temples and the symbolism of the Buddhas... worship in the Buddhist tradition is an overload for the senses. Beautiful, haunting and utterly foreign. It is practiced in mobbed temples or quiet corners.

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

The Buddha

This Little Piggy Went to Temple

One of my favorite moments on this trip was wandering into a wat as a family was finishing up their worship with an offering of a pig's head. Offering up animals to the deities is common, but I only happened to see it just this once. The rest of the time I witnessed the same old same old offerings of incense, candles, flowers, rice... yawn. (Kidding!). But honestly - the pig's head was marvelous. I couldn't manage to get a great shot of it - I didn't want to disrupt the ceremony, and as soon as they were done they packed it up to take home. Dinner, I presume.