Leading the ceremony yesterday was Benjawan Tompanuwat, President of the Kusoldham Phuket Foundation.
Guests at the event, held at the foundation’s headquarters in Phuket Town, were Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana, former Phuket Senator Tunyaratt Achariyachai, leading foundation committee members and a host of officials.
During the ceremony, rice was donated to 29 schools for student lunches.
After a ceremony to honour ancestor spirits, dried foods donating ceremonies to children and people from poor families.
The Te Krajard ceremony is held each year as a form of merit making ahead of the annual Por Tor Hungry Ghost Festival, when ethnic Chinese people believe that the spirits of ancestors are released from hell to visit their relatives. (See story here.)
Te Krajard (literally “strike the tray”), is also often called Ting Krajard (literally “throw the tray”). The name of the comes from when items to be handed out to the poor were once placed on a tray and tossed into the air for people to scramble and collect.
On the main day of the Por Tor Festival, food and other items are prepared and offered to ancestor spirits and “homeless spirits”, spirits with no living family to come and visit, as a way to pay respect to the spirits and to make merit.