Last Post Repeat

Sadly I am making an unexpected further post before we head home. Our Day Watchman at the Juniper Tree, was knocked off his motor bike, when he was driving home from work on Saturday night. He didn't recover consciousness and passed away in hospital.
He leaves a family, including Grandchildren and will be sorely missed by all of us here, too. 
He worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day, or more and always greeted the guests cheerfully and took care of them with warmth and kindness.
God bless you, Len!

One of the things about working with people all day, everyday is that you start to get to know their family and so when we visited the family we were expected to go to the Temple to pay our respects to Len and to meet his family. We had already met one of his sons and grandchildren here at the Juniper Tree.
A Buddhist funeral has some striking similarities but some radical differences too, to funerals we are used to, both Christian and Humanist, in the UK.
Len's coffin was resting in the Courtyard of his local temple, here, packed with ice (wealthier families have chiller units, connected to their coffins) visitors can view the body and pray/meditate.
When we arrived at the Temple for the funeral, the coffin was already loaded onto the back of the pickup truck being used as the hearse. The coffin was a white-painted one with short "Cabriole" legs, like much Northern Thai style woodwork.
We drove in convoy through the village to a outdoor crematorium. There is a central high roofed pergoda style structure with a raised platform constructed over a fire pit with arched openings on each side like a bread-oven opening.
The fire is made with large diameter logs arranged criss-cross under the coffin .
Surrounding the platform area were 3 or 4 seating areas, one slightly raised for the Monks, the others for the guests. The furniture was all white plastic patio chairs, and folding steel trestle tables.
 The village Headman acted as MC and he welcomed the guests and gave a brief history of Lens life. As an "incomer" with Chinese roots, he wasn't very well known in his area.
The Monks were presented with flowers and robes as gifts and they prayed briefly in silence before the coffin. In pride of place was an enlarged photo we had given the family of Len, which was one we had taken for our Staff Notice Board. One of our Guests had photo-shopped the background to make it more like a portrait and we had framed it.
Another item that followed the coffin everywhere was Len's Christmas parcel from the Juniper Tree(he had chosen a water boiler)
When the Monks had finished, the pickup truck was manually moved to the front of the furnace and the coffin carried up into place over the fire.
All the guests had been given paper flowers on incense sticks, which we placed in a brass bowl set up in the front of the altar-like table at the front. As we passed by the coffin each person Waied (the prayer-like gesture made by Thai's in greeting and leave taking) Len and the family members standing along side the coffin.
As fuel was poured all over the coffin, the wood and the body, firecrackers and guns were fired off. This went on for 4/5 minutes whilst a wire was set up from the end of the coffin to a tree above the furthest people. 
When it was time to light the fire, a rocket (firework) was set off, which whizzed along the wire, crashing into the coffin and igniting the blaze.
After a few minutes of watching the flames get a good hold on the wood, the family all left quite hurriedly.
As I say, some very different ways of doing things.
We all returned to work, how the family continue in the mourning process I don't yet know. I wondered if they a have a "wake" style of family party?
Having conducted a few funerals myself now, I think the presiding Monk seems to get off lightly; Just a walk on part!