The Significance of Blessing in Thai Culture : หน้า 166/207

What is a blessing? Blessing is called vara in the Pali language. The meaning of vara is progress and happiness. A blessing means the act of giving the very best. Therefore, when the elderly give a blessing to their descendants, it is equivalent to wishing them the very best. The Significance of the Blessing Many may not know that blessing descendants has been a tradition of Thai life since ancient times. It is a routine that a family practiced before going to sleep. Parents would bring their children to pay respect to the grandparents every night. Then the grandparents would summarize all the good deeds they had done that day in a blessing for their grandchildren. In doing so, the children would be instilled with morals and would learn from their grandparents’ virtues. Such acts transferred good deeds and virtues and the children learned to believe in the Law of Kamma. In the past, people in Thai society lived more peacefully. They had fewer problems than in today’s society because most families engaged in this nightly family routine, creating a harmonious environment.