User:Pabotoki/sandbox

Characteristic of Thai coffin
In Thailand there are three types of coffin used at present 1. Long-non 2. Long-nung 3. Long-samsuan

1.Long-non is the most popular type. It has rectangular shape. The corpse will be placed along the length of the coffin. 2. Long-nung has square shape, and the opening is a little puffed. The corpse will be kneeled and its hands will be shaped to be braced together. 3. Long-samsuan is a mix of the first two types of coffin. Its base is in rectangular shape but the length is shorter than those of Long-non, and Long-nung. It has puffed opening. Posture of corpse will be half-sit and half-lay as local people call Ping-aek (Aek-ka-nek). Long-nung and Long-samsuan are used in some local areas such as Nakornsritummarat and Phuket provinces. They are mostly used for elder and wealthy persons.

1. Body
Dimension of coffin’s body is around 175x90x50 cm. To build a coffin, it must be framed tightly by using wood structure inside the body and hammered with a plank outside. The inside is padded with an insulator for preventing an unpleasant smell, fluid that might come out from the coffin. In the past, an injection method for corpses was not widespread so they used a big piece of ice to fill in the coffin and also used the Chanya(ชันยา), chanya is the tree called Mai-teng to seal a seam, to make the coffin air proof.

2. Base
The base of coffins is usually made into 2 formats. One format is called Teen-A-Yong (ตีนอยอง) character of this format are base upturn, opening puff up. There is a 15-cm. plank strike straight up on 4 sides called Panuk (พนัก). Plank boarded on the top, mounting 4 corners on each side for placing a body. The middle part of the narrow base is support by putting a flat plank in vertical way called “Waist” (เอว). A standard height of base will be around 80-100 cm, the length and weight depend on the size of the body. The other format of the base is called Kreung-chun (เครื่องชั้น) Which is made into levels from 30 to 5. Each level uses a connected plank, and the lowest level uses a plank of around 30 cm.

3. Top
The top of a coffin mostly has three peaks. The middle peak is around 20 cm. higher than the other two peaks. Each peak has a square arch as a basement. A sharpen peak on the coffin cover is called Yod-hem(ยอดเหม). The arch can be made using a plank, or some areas use Salacca wallichiana. The height of the arch is around 60 cm, made of lightweight wood such as White silk cotton tree, Thong-lang tree it will not be burned with the coffin. At present day making a top for coffin is not popular anymore as people use flowers instead. Only wealthy people will have a top for their coffins. For the decoration. In the first phase of decoration people used hell paper by carving it into many patterns called Dad-kud (ดาษขุด) or Kradad-kud (กระดาษขุด). Normally the decoration is only on the base part.

The development of Thai coffin started from the coffins that were made of wood planks built as a rectangular box. According to the information above a coffin needed a professional or an expert to build, and it took a long time because of its complexity. However, it had an advantage because relatives used to burn a corpse by bier. So using a wood plank that was hardly burned by fire was to protect a disgraceful picture of a corpse that was burning. At present we use an oven to burn coffins so people turn back to plank wood because it is rare and more expensive than plywood. So plywood is now more popular for a choice of making a coffin as it is easy to build and burn.

Not only the materials of the coffin structure but also the decoration have changed. Nowadays there are many patterns and pictures of beautiful creatures such as angels and Thai art patterns that are sculpted into three dimensions. Colourful stickers have been used too. Before it was only standard colours such as black, white, silver or gold. Moreover, a new way of decoration is to put a carpet or a rug to cover the coffin. This carpet is useful after the funeral because the relatives will cut the carpet into many pieces and give away to people who need them.

And now we also have a coffin with an air-conditioner. It is more popular than other types of coffin because it is not expensive, functional and does not need to use the injection method. Moreover inside of the coffin there is a pillow and a mat for the dead person to have his/her last moment fulfilled with happiness and comfort.

Reference
http://culturalism.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-post_5377.html