Wai Kruu
Wai Kruu
Literally "Wai Kruu" means bow to the teachers. In Thai culture when a student wish to learn the art of Muay Thai he needs to go to pay respect to his future teacher. Among other things the student should bring five white Lotus flowers (the Lotus flower symbolize Buddhism), five stripes of Jasmine flowers (the Jasmine flower symbolize impermanent existence), two white candles and nine sticks of incense. The Wai Kruu ceremony should be held on Thursdays (Teachers Day in Thailand).
Muay Thai Sangha School follows the ancient traditions. Every Thursday inside the school we held the Wai Kruu ceremony to welcome the new students.
Wai Kruu Offerings
Each of the elements in the Wai Kruu ceremony has a symbolic meaning.
- Incense
The number of incense sticks vary according to the level of the spirit teacher that you wish to contact. Theoretically offering incense means that you are asking to the spirit entity to help you to keep good morals. - Candles
The meaning of offering candles is associated with having light through darkness, in other words asking for having wisdom in life.
When we offer yellow candles we are asking for wisdom in Buddha's teaching.
White candles represent pure straight Buddhist practice. - Flowers
Offering Flowers in Buddhism is a very common and meaningful action. This action opens the heart chakra and teach us about giving without expecting anything back.
Buddha taught that we live in an impermanent world. Flowers look beautiful but a few days later they become dry and the beauty is gone.
Offering flowers is a way to remember to ourselves that we are impermanent as well. Giving flowers often make us not to be attached into material things such as money.
National Wai Kruu Day
The national Muay Thai Wai Kruu day in Thailand is held on the 17th of March of each year. This date represents the glorious fight of Phra Nai Kanom Tom in Rangoon, Burma about 250 years ago. At the Muay Thai Sangha school every year we celebrate this day with offerings, chantings and a special performance of Muay Thai. Every practitioner of martial arts is welcome to join us.
(Please contact us before of your arrival)
The Twelve Animals Cycle
Muay Thai Sangha follows the twelve animal cycle in which each animal represents one specific year. According to the year of the animal the Wai Kruu ceremony should be differently performed. An important aspect is the animal year of which the new student has been born, because this will affect the compatibility of the new student and the teacher. The twelve animals are classified in different families. As for example the wild boar, the snake and the dragon represents a single family.
The animal cycle starts with the rat followed by ox, tiger,rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and wild boar.
Here are the year that corespond to each animal.
Years of the rat:
1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
Year of the ox:
1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021
Years of the tiger:
1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022
Year of the rabbit:
1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
Years of the dragon:
1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Year of the snake:
1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
Years of the horse:
1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026
Year of the goat:
1943, 1955, 1967, 1979,1991, 2003, 2015
Years of the monkey:
1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016
Year of the rooster:
1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017
Years of the dog:
1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
Year of the wild boar:
1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
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