Since most Thai people are Buddhists, they believe that making merits i.e. donating money, clothes, books, food or being helpful to the society is a good thing to do. When they feel depressed, confused or unhappy, going to the temple is the top choice. But what do people do at the temple and how it makes them feel better? I've just experienced the feeling of that...

I just had my Buddhist ceremony a few weeks ago. Its main purpose is to welcome my upcoming 25th birthday. Other than that, my mother and I just felt like it was good to do something religious from time to time. So everything happened in the evening and it took about one hour to finish the process. My mother prepared me the 1*1 foot square box which was divided into 9 rooms. Each room was filled with food, fruits, and something else suggested by old people. At each corner of the box stood the pole. We took it to the temple and asked 4 monks to help with the rest of the ceremony. When 4 monks were ready, one of them tied the poles with the white holy string called Sai Sin. Then he asked for my full name. After that, the monks started praying in Pali language, while they were doing that, I had to meditate, lifted my hands on my chest and bended my head down. They prayed for 40 minutes and sprinkled me with holy water. Then one monk tied my wrists with one white holy string each and wished me good luck. Next, I had to hold my breath and took the mentioned box to the safe place where nobody was around. And the last thing was to pure water under the tree nearby and asked those whom I might disturb them in either my last or this current life to forgive me for what I have done wrong. Right, although it is just a religious stuff, I admit it makes me feel much better and relieved. So I told myself that even though I could not see how the ceremony helped, I could feel that from then I would have no or less problems troubling me.