austraLasia 1559
Blind Thai therapists gather for ancient massage dedication ceremony
PAKKRED: 12 May 2006 -- Thursday 11th May saw a gathering of 250 blind massage therapists gather at the Salesian administered Skills Development Centre for the Blind at Pakkred, Thailand, for an ancient and solemn ceremony to bless their art. They represented more than a thousand such therapists in Thailand.
The event was a mixture of the ancient and contemporary, the Christian and Buddhist, the Thai and Chinese and, of course, the Salesian! The group was gathering for an annual ceremony of paying respect to the Chief Trainers, or the ancient therapists who developed and taught the art, and the present-day trainers.
The ancient ceremony involved the lighting of candles and joss sticks, offering lotus flowers and much profound bowing to the trainers. It began with a speech by Fr Charles Velardo, Director of the Centre, who encouraged them and blessed the gathering. This was followed by the chanting of an ancient text by a Thai Brahmin, and the anointing with 'sacred paste' of the fingers of the hand used to give the massage.
The image of 250 therapists in their neat white uniforms was a sight to behold. They were accompanied by their wives and children and many other spectators to the event. In true Salesian tradition, the ceremony was followed by a sports competition - goalball - amongst seven teams of blind athletes. Lots of fun and good competition. The day finished with a huge Chinese dinner.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please
contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
Blind Thai therapists gather for ancient massage dedication ceremony
PAKKRED: 12 May 2006 -- Thursday 11th May saw a gathering of 250 blind massage therapists gather at the Salesian administered Skills Development Centre for the Blind at Pakkred, Thailand, for an ancient and solemn ceremony to bless their art. They represented more than a thousand such therapists in Thailand.
The event was a mixture of the ancient and contemporary, the Christian and Buddhist, the Thai and Chinese and, of course, the Salesian! The group was gathering for an annual ceremony of paying respect to the Chief Trainers, or the ancient therapists who developed and taught the art, and the present-day trainers.
The ancient ceremony involved the lighting of candles and joss sticks, offering lotus flowers and much profound bowing to the trainers. It began with a speech by Fr Charles Velardo, Director of the Centre, who encouraged them and blessed the gathering. This was followed by the chanting of an ancient text by a Thai Brahmin, and the anointing with 'sacred paste' of the fingers of the hand used to give the massage.
The image of 250 therapists in their neat white uniforms was a sight to behold. They were accompanied by their wives and children and many other spectators to the event. In true Salesian tradition, the ceremony was followed by a sports competition - goalball - amongst seven teams of blind athletes. Lots of fun and good competition. The day finished with a huge Chinese dinner.
_____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please
contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
