Emerald or Jade?

Ascension Day:  The Roman Catholic Church seems to be thriving here in Bangkok.  I attended the English-language mass at Assumption Cathedral this morning.  It was Ascension Day, the 40^th day after Easter Sunday.  Even though it was a huge basilica-style church, there was standing room only.  Amazing, considering there was no air conditioning, just fans overhead and along the side aisles.  The priest sounded like he came from the United States.  At other times on Saturday and Sunday, there are also masses in Thai.  In addition to the cathedral, there is Assumption College, where children of Bangkok come for an education.  Just for your information:  in much of the world, the word college means a school you go to before you go to University.  The children at Assumption College wear uniforms, but so do all of the kids in government schools.

The Emerald Buddha:  On the grounds of the Royal Palace is the temple of the Emerald Buddha.  But, the effigy is really made of jade.  To confess, I went through this temple and didn’t see a Buddha at all, so I figured I had the wrong building.  I checked my map and discovered it was the right one.  I went back in and looked up.  I had expected to see a figure that was more than life size, but this one isn’t.  It is torso-sized and sits atop a pyramid of gold that lifts it almost to the ceiling.  For a single piece of jade, however, it is huge. As usual, though, all you get in the official narrative is a bunch of bland facts.  So, why is the emerald Buddha the central focus of the monastery that surrounds it and why is it in the royal palace at all?  Here is my far more interesting (though hypothetical) story line.  The jade image comes from Thailand’s far north.  It once graced the royal palaces of the King of Chiang Mai and the King of Laos.  Both were conquered by the southern Thai kingdom, and the unique green image of Buddha was installed in the new capital of Bangkok.  To me, it is all symbolic.  When you conquer territory, you need to advertise how powerful you are.  As monarch, you find the most treasured artifacts of the conquered lands, and you bring them in your own capital city.  The emerald Buddha is in Bangkok as booty, the spoils of conquest.  If you are an Anglophile, think Stone of Scone, now repatriated.  But on the part of neither Thailand nor Laos is there a repatriation movement.  I see no reason, though, why Laos should not call for a return of their patrimony, since the image resided in Vientiane for 226 years.  Besides, asking for your treasures back seems to be a theme of 21^st century cultural geography.

You still don't know why they call this jade Buddha, the emerald Buddha, but that's an interesting story, too.  One you will have to look up!

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.