CHIANG RAI: Eleven of the 12 youth footballers and their coach rescued from Tham Luang cave will be ordained on Wednesday at Wat Phra That Doi Tung and will remain in monkhood until Aug 3.
The other team member who won't take part in the activity is Adul Sargon, who is Christian. The ordination is a gesture of gratitude to Lt Cdr Samarn Kunan, a former Thai Navy Seal who lost his life during the rescue mission.
Praphan Khamjoi, Buddhism director of Chiang Rai province, said Monday that before the ordination, related activities would start on Tuesday. In the morning, there would be a ceremony to worship holy spirits at Wat Phra That Doi Wao, a local temple of the young footballers, at 9am.
The head-shaving ceremony will be held on Tuesday evening, presided over by the Chiang Rai governor and senior monks in the northernmost province. Afterwards, there would be another ceremony to boost morale among the members of the Moo Paa (Wild Boar) football team.
On Wednesday, they will be ordained at Wat Phra That Doi Tung, a local Buddhist temple near Tham Luang cave where they had been trapped for nearly three weeks.
They would subsequently be brought in a Lanna-styled procession for a distance of one kilometre from Wat Noi Doi Tung to Wat Phra That Doi Tung for the ordination. The ordained people would stay overnight at the temple and move to Wat Phra That Doi Wao on the following day.
They would stay at Wat Phra That Doi Wao until Aug 3 and leave monkhood on Aug 4.
The eleven boys would become novices and their coach Ekkapol Chanthawong would be a monk.
Twelve young footballers aged 11-16 of the Moo Paa football academy and their 25-year-old coach had been trapped in the partially flooded Tham Luang cave in Mae Sai district for 18 days from June 23.
They visited the cave in the Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park after their regular football practice.
