Thanksgiving-Thai style

This morning we woke up early and went to a Lahu village Thanksgiving with our friends from Gethsemane home.  When Americans say Thanksgiving, they think of the holiday celebrating their first successful harvest with the Indians.  This "Thanksgiving" is to thank God for the crops they have collected.  They also use it as a way to tell the other people in the village about God.  We drove about two hours outside of Chiang Mai to a beautiful village in the hills.  The road was quite bumpy, and we weren't sure if the truck would make it over some of the bridges.  Once we got there, we walked up a huge hill and arrived at the village.  We went to the church and listened to a sermon and songs sang by different groups.  Afterwards, we walked down the hill to about 30 tables set up for a feast.  On every table there were drinks, rice rolled in bannana leaves and fresh vegetables.  As soon as we sat down people started carrying huge trays of food over and placed them on the table.  We ate so fast because the food was so delicious.  It was a feast like we have never seen before. We are having 3 more Thanksgiving celebrations this week.  Bring on the holiday season!

The church was beautifully decorated for Thanksgiving.

A view of our table before the food was placed on it.  We used the bannana leaves as plates- easy cleanup and environmentally friendly!

Some of the delicious food.

Lahu clothing is so beautiful and bright.