Student respects
By Itsarin Tisantia
Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post
In June each year, Wai Khru is commemorated across the
country so that students can pay respects to their hard-working, tireless teachers.
Read the following story
to learn more about this important annual occasion.
Some people may think that
Teacher’s Day and Wai Khru Day are basically the same. However, while Teacher’s
Day is celebrated in order to acknowledge the importance of education and
teaching careers, Wai Khru Day is a special event held each year at Thai
educational institutes where students can pay homage to their teachers by offering them
decorative gifts and a formal wai — a traditional Thai way of giving respect.
TIME FOR TEACHERS
Wai refers to giving
respect, while khru means teachers. On Wai Khru Day, students pay respect to
their teachers by giving them trays decorated with joss sticks, candles and the
four traditional offerings of kao tok (popped rice), dok makua (pea eggplant
flowers), dok kem (Ixora flowers) and yah praek (Burmuda grass).
SYMBOLIC OFFERINGS
Each of the four traditional
offerings has a different meaning. Popped rice represents discipline, while pea
eggplant flowers represent modesty.
Ixora flowers and Burmuda grass symbolise intelligence and perseverance,
respectively.
SPECIAL CEREMONY
On Wai Khru Day, each
educational institute normally picks one female student and one male student to
represent each class. The representatives of each class walk to the stage or
platform, then crawl toward their teachers with their offerings.
The female student
representative will normally offer a tray beautifully embellished with flowers, known as paan dokmai,
while the male student will offer paan thoop, or a tray of joss sticks. They
will then make a wai before leaving the stage or platform.
After the ceremony of
offering trays, some schools and universities allow the rest of the students in
each class to take turns making a wai for their teachers.
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Pronunciation
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Meaning
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commemorate (V)
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kə'memə:,eit
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กระทำพิธีเป็นที่ระลึก mark by some ceremony or observation;
"We marked the anniversary of his death"
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annual (N)
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ประจำปี occurring or payable
every year; "an annual trip to Paris"
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acknowledge (V)
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ยอมรับ
, รับรอง declare to be true
or admit the existence or reality or truth of; "He admitted his errors"
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institutes (N)
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ขนบธรรมเนียม,จัดให้มี an
association organized to promote art or science or education v 1: set up or lay the groundwork for;
"establish a new department"
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homage (N)
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การแสดงการเคารพ respectful
deference; "pay court to the emperor"
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decorative (Adj)
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เป็นเครื่องตกแต่ง
serving
an esthetic rather than a useful purpose; "cosmetic fenders on
cars"
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trays (N)
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ถาด an
open receptacle for holding or displaying or serving articles or food
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discipline (N)
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วินัย the practice of
training people to obey rules and order and punishing them if they do not;
the controlled behavior or situation that result from this training
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modesty (N)
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สงบเสงี่ยม freedom
from vanity or conceit [ant: {immodesty}] 2: formality and propriety of manner
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perseverance
(N)
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พากเพียร persistent
determination
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represent (V)
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ผู้แทน take the place of or
be parallel or equivalent to; "Because of the sound changes in the
course of history, an 'h' in Greek stands for an 's' in Latin"
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platform (N)
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แท่น a
raised horizontal surface; "the speaker mounted the platform"
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crawl (VI)
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คลาน a
very slow movement; "the traffic advanced at a crawl"
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embellished (VT)
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ประดับ
be beautiful to look at; "Flowers adorned the tables everywhere"
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In Thailand has many
important day which today is Wai Khru. This day is important to students that
they can pay respects to their teachers. Some many people think Teacher’s Day
and Wai Khru Day is same. But both day are different because Teacher’s Day is
celebrated in order to acknowledge the important of education and teaching
careers, Wai khru day is special event held each year at Thai education that
students can pay homage to their
teachers. I think Wai Khru is important relation between teachers and
students.
In Wai Khru Day,
students pay respect to their teacher by giving them trays decorated with joss
sticks, candles and the four traditional offering of Kao tok, dok makua, dok
kem and yah praek. When students respect their teachers, they bring them to
teacher. All thing that students giving to teachers have meaning : Poped rice
represents discipline, pea eggplant flowers represent modesty , Ixora flowers
and Burmuda grass symbolize intelligent and perseverance, respectively. So, Wai
khru is important for students and teachers.
To sum up, Wai Khru Day
can express respect between students to teachers. It’s important for making a
good relation between them. Students can express homage to their teachers. I
think, ceremony of this day is important for education of Thailand. Because
inThailand expression homage is not only important but it is express to make
institutes still forever.
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