Happy Father's day to you Dad! You're the best daddy in the whole world for our little boy, Hyzyd.
Am I being amnesiac?..LOL! Nope, I'm just celebrating Father's Day with the Thais. Actually, December 5 is the exact date for the Father's Day here in Thailand but schools already celebrating this special event all through this week. December 5 is the day the present King of Thailand was born and, as the Thais think of him as the 'Father of the Nation', it's appropriate to celebrate all fathers on this day.
Am I being amnesiac?..LOL! Nope, I'm just celebrating Father's Day with the Thais. Actually, December 5 is the exact date for the Father's Day here in Thailand but schools already celebrating this special event all through this week. December 5 is the day the present King of Thailand was born and, as the Thais think of him as the 'Father of the Nation', it's appropriate to celebrate all fathers on this day.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great was born on Monday, December 5th, 1927 in the USA. He is the only monarch ever to have been born in America. King Bhumibol is also the world's longest reigning monarch. This year will be his 82nd birthday and, as such, will be a day of enormous celebration for all Thais. Yellow is the King's birth color because yellow is the color of a Monday birth according to traditional Thai beliefs. So every Monday throughout the year most Thais wear a special yellow shirt to honor the King.
His Majesty is well beloved and deeply respected by all Thais- old and young. The occasion of his royal birthday provides his loyal subjects the opportunity to express their reverence for him. The shrine of the King is displayed in our hallway, love letters for the king were hanged on a man-made tree and buildings and homes all over the country are elaborately decorated and the area around the Grand Palace is spectacularly illuminated.
Here in our school , there's a morning show that all the children's families came to to celebrate the Father's Day. The little kids perform songs or nursery rhymes, and the older kids would dance traditional Thai dances in honor of their fathers. At the end of the performance, all the fathers in the audience were asked to come up on stage and were presented with flowers. Male teachers would often be called up to represent a father for a child who didn't have one present. As teachers are highly respected in Thailand, this was always a nice addition to the festivities and you'd often see an otherwise macho teacher wiping away a little tear...LOL!
Happy Father's Day and Happy birthday to His Majesty King Bhumibol!
