Marriage and Graduation

[parrot]

Andrew Biggs should be required reading for any expat trying to make sense of Thai culture.
I like his comment about the teddy bear, but he forgot to mention the helium balloons that usually come with the ceremony
https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/s ... al-reality

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I know about the wedding ceremony with the helium balloons and stuffed plush toys but not about the graduation ceremony. It was interesting reading. Thanks for making the article available.

[maaka]

Now I know why the missus's sister's call me brother in law, and the wife calls me Husband, even though we havent been within coowee of a church, or temple. Old Papa has tied more than a ball of string around my old wrist

[Hoopoe]

I've been to many weddings here , the village never ceases to surprise me ,the best one was were the groom invited me out after the string around the wrist's , to go out partying with his mates , without the bride ,parents or anyone else from the ceremony for that matter, the graduation ,yes i knew about the rehearsal but not the ceremony previous to even sitting the exam ,And yes Falang no understand i get a lot , funny as ,,,,

[Drunk Monkey]

Andrew Biggs should be required reading for any expat trying to make sense of Thai culture.
I like his comment about the teddy bear, but he forgot to mention the helium balloons that usually come with the ceremony
https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/s ... al-reality

Excellent find parrot , made for a fun read and more head shaking Thainess is thrust upon me .

[thaiguzzi]

Andrew Biggs should be required reading for any expat trying to make sense of Thai culture.
I like his comment about the teddy bear, but he forgot to mention the helium balloons that usually come with the ceremony
https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/s ... al-reality

Superb! The guy is always a great read.

[semperfiguy]

A few weeks ago I attended my wife's friend's graduation ceremony at Rajabhat University in Udon. She actually graduated in 2559 (2016) with her master's degree, but the queue is so long for having a member of the royal family to hand out the certificates that they were only now able to have the ceremony. Until this time the students were only able to have a copy of the graduation certificate to present for their various needs as they relate to employment or getting a raise in salary if they are already a civil servant, etc. I am still shaking my head at this one.

Another friend of my wife has had three of the "village marriage ceremonies" to three different farangs in the past few years, so I have had the honor of standing in line to tie those silly strings on her wrist three separate times. Chuckle, chuckle! It's hard to keep a straight face knowing that she is conning one guy after another and none of the marriages are legal. However, in each case the groom thought it was a ceremony that sealed him for life. Lucky for them it was all just a big show with no real substance to it.

[Bonanza]

Hi, semperfiguy I quote, "...tie those silly strings on her wrist". Don't be too disparaging, in the west it's an engagement ring that serves the same purpose!

[FrazeeDK]

I never hear much differentiation between a man and woman merely living together, doing the string tying ceremony, or even doing a temple ceremony.. Bottom line is that if they don't go down to the Amphoe and sign the paperwork they're not legally married although most of the time they'll be referred to as married.. My oldest married nephew (56) was "married" with no official document for nearly 20 years.. When offered a job in the village bureaucracy where the "Nai" told him it would look better if he went to the Amphoe and got officially married, he did...