CREMATING A KING

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 123, 17 July 1911, Page 7

CREMATING A KING

An Austrian artillery officer, Cap'll:! Hoevol, was present at the cremaion or the hotly of t!ic late king of jiam a few months ago, and witnos.ed all the elaborate ceremonial with \ hicli the Siamese surround the ob-

loquies of a Sovereign. The Coronation celebrations in Sydney remind'd of the brilliant display he had seen a Bangkok, and ho told the story ;f the cremation to a reporter. King Jhuialongkorn died last October, and according to the custom of the country the body was placed in the Royal Vault for an inodefinite period. it vas not till six months later that die high priests decided that the hones it the dead King should ho burnt m a sacred pyre. As soon as the late of the cremation was announced the people of the capital city began to prepare for it. Shops and other mil-dings were decorated, the Siamese hands began to rehearse music tor the ceremonies, and everywhere in Bangkok there was tremendous activity. On the day of the crema,ion the ceremonial ground in the niddle of the city w;is tin onged with thousands of people. An elaborate Recession conveyed the hones of /the ate King—the flesh had been removed from them in accordance with the Siamese practice—from the Royal unit to the funeral pyre. The high priests led the way, and the Ministers of State and high officials pra.edod the gorgeous coffin, the native winces and great numbers of representative Siamese completing the procession. The cremation ceremony lastid for three days and three nights, the high priests' conducting the proceedings according to a most elaborate ritual. The fire was lighted and ixtinguished hundreds of times during the three days, hut at last the ;romation was completed and the ish'es were handed over to the reigning King. All the proceedings appeared to be of a festival nature, fhere was no sign of mouug lor a King who had governed his country .veil, and the Austrian visitor considered the cremation ceremony in -Jiam almost ,as joyful as the Coronaion celebration in Sydney., There nay be a good reason for the rojo'cing, since in years gone by it was not always the privilege of Siamese monirchs to be granted decent burial.