I personally experienced the preparations for an event much like this one, back in 1996 when I was teaching at a small elementary school in the provincial capital of a lower Northern region province. The celebrations then were marking the 50th anniversary of the King’s accession to the throne. In the two weeks before the parade, all academic work virtually stopped. Instead, students were taken from class to practice marching, playing instruments, singing and dancing. As the date drew nearer, much time was spent preparing costumes and decorations (folding leaves, stringing flowers, etc.) for the school’s procession.

I asked my older (prathom 5-6) students their thoughts about the whole event. Why are they doing all this work for a parade? Because the teachers told them to, and because they love the King. Is it fun, or at least more fun than regular classes? Mixed reactions, but in general it seemed that though preparing for parades can be boring and tiring, it is a bit more fun than sitting in class. What about your schoolwork—aren’t you worried about your final exams? With very few exceptions, not really. This is school—shouldn’t you be here studying instead of marching and dancing? The teachers want us to do this.

The event, combined with the fact that schoolwork stopped in a similar way for several other lesser events (for instance provincial sports day) throughout the year, probably created the impression that ceremony is more important than study. Some students, though not all, seemed to learn that it is important to do your best for the honor of your school (and probably, by extension, whatever social/institutional group you are part of). Obviously, there was the message that it is important to honor the King, though I somehow doubt that many students abstracted this imperative beyond the King as an individual to the monarchy in general—the focus was almost entirely on Nai Luang himself, though his recently-deceased (non-royal-blooded) mother was also honored.

Regarding the ceremony in Michael’s account, I am inclined to agree that other messages, like those about democracy, are secondary and only connected in a vague way — i.e., the King is good, democracy is good (at least in principle), so honor the King and elect good people. Perhaps more controversially, though, I don’t really see how such ceremonies reinforce the _institution_ of the monarchy or the “bureaucratic-royalist model of politics” except insofar as the current King is the embodiment of the monarchy. I would welcome someone to point out what I am missing.