Temple in Pichit wows with rainbow-coloured crematorium

A temple in the northern province of Phichit is turning some heads with some colourful new decorations. Instead of painting their crematorium in the modest traditional tones of white or cream, they have instead painted it with eye-catching bright rainbow colours.

Wat Nong Plong in the Wang Sai Phun district of Phichit decided to brighten up an area overwhelmingly associated with mourning and sadness. In Thai Buddhist tradition, when a person dies, there are ceremonial funeral rites, after which the body is burned in the temple crematorium.

Nation Thailand reported that this temple decided to do a little something to smile about during this time of grieving. The room itself, and the awnings covering the area in front of it, have been painted with vibrant red, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, and pink stripes.

The unique act of decorating what part of the renovations of the temple compound. They also took the time to relocate some chedis, a traditional burial structure that stores the remains of those who have died. It is similar to the stupa, a sacred burial site containing relics used by Buddhists around the world and even predating Buddhism.

The monks at the temple said that the area where the chedis were currently being stored was getting too full. They decided to relocate them to place them along the wall of the temple. The monks believe it will also be a deterrent to any would-be robbers, if any attempt to scale the wall and break into the temple would surely wake the dead, now at rest along the wall.