Besides these public solemnities there are a number of domestic festivals derived from the twelve Samskaras of the Hindus.  Of these only three or four are kept up by the nations of Indo-China, namely the shaving of the first hair of a child a month after birth, the giving of a name, and the piercing of the ears for earrings.  This last is observed in Burma and Laos, but not in Siam and Camboja where is substituted for it the Kon Chuk or shaving of the topknot, which is allowed to grow until the eleventh or thirteenth year.  This ceremony, which is performed on boys and girls alike, is the most important event in the life of a young Siamese and is celebrated by well-to-do parents with lavish expenditure.  Those who are indigent often avail themselves of the royal bounty, for each year a public ceremony is performed in one of the temples of Bangkok at which poor children receive the tonsure gratis.  An elaborate description of the tonsure rites has been published by Gerini.[231] They are of considerable interest as showing how closely Buddhist and Brahmanic rites are intertwined in Siamese family life.

Marriages are celebrated with a feast to which monks are invited but are not regarded as religious ceremonies.  The dead are usually disposed of by cremation, but are often kept some time, being either embalmed or simply buried and exhumed subsequently.  Before cremation the coffin is usually placed within the grounds of a temple.  The monks read Suttas over it and it is said[232] that they hold ribbons which enter into the coffin and are supposed to communicate to the corpse the merit acquired by the recitations and prayers.

3

In the preceding pages mention has often been made not only of Brahmanic rites but of Brahman priests.[233] These are still to be found in Bangkok attached to the Court and possibly in other cities.  They dress in white and have preserved many Hindu usages but are said to be poor Sanskrit scholars.  Indeed Gerini[234] seems to say that they use Pali in some of their recitations.  Their principal duty is to officiate at Court functions, but wealthy families invite them to take part in domestic rites, and also to cast horoscopes and fix lucky days.  It is clear that the presence of these Brahmans is no innovation.  Brahmanism must have been strong in Siam when it was a province of Camboja, but in both countries gave way before Buddhism.  Many rites, however, connected with securing luck or predicting the future were too firmly established to be abolished, and, as Buddhist monks were unwilling to perform them[235] or not thought very competent, the Brahmans remained and were perhaps reinforced from time to time by new importations, for there are still Brahman colonies in Ligor and other Malay towns.  Siamese lawbooks, like those of Burma, seem to be mainly adaptations of Indian Dharmasastras.