The daily dawn ceremony of monks collecting alms (food offerings) from locals is one that occurs throughout Buddhist areas of South East Asia. The alms givers sit or kneel by the roadside in preparation for the monks, who walk, in a meditative silence, single file to collect the sticky rice in their bowls. The ceremony, which has occurred for hundreds of years, provides monks with their food and allows the alms givers to practice their spirituality. Luang Prabang, which has close to 80 temples, has become an ideal place for foreigners to witness this daily procession, or even take part if they wish, and the ceremony has become an enduring image of Luang Prabang.
I had set my alarm for 5am three days in a row when finally, on my last day in Luang Prabang, I dragged myself out of bed and headed out to the large temple nearby, Wat Xieng Thong. The monks began filing out of the temples as the sun rose at about 5:30am. Along the main road (Sakkaline Road), hundreds of monks in bright orange robes marched in silence, and the alms givers, some locals and some tourists, filled their bowls as they passed, careful not to make eye contact with the monks. The whole procession lasted about 30 minutes, and by 6am the last of the monks had walked by.
While I sat and watched in silence (and took some photos from a respectful distance), I couldn’t help but be dismayed at some of the tourists behaviour. People shoving their camera’s right in the monks faces, as though this was a cultural show put on for their amusement. A large group who were participating in the alms giving decided about half way through, before the last of the monks had passed, that they had ‘done their bit’ and stood up, abandoning their bowls and leaving the monks to follow to step around them as they took photos of one another. Disgraceful. It’s behaviours such as this that threaten the likelihood of these traditions from continuing. In summary, if you want to witness, or partake, in the almsgiving:
- Be respectful
- Be silent
- Don’t treat the participants as if they are in a human zoo!
