![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a-visitor-lies-inside-a-coffin-made-of-mycelium-the-rootlike-6DP7IQFYTRHM3GHWFLWMBS6AZE.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThailand’s Death Fest invites people to confront mortality while also offering practical services and spiritual advice for the inevitable.<\/p>\n
The unusual fair, now in its second year, has broached the subject that’s uncomfortable for many. It’s also one of the central teachings of Buddhism, which shapes much of Thailand’s culture, about life\u2019s unavoidable sufferings: birth, old age, sickness and death.<\/p>\n
Sangduan Ngamvinijaroon attended the three-day event Friday with her mother in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok. She said death used to be a difficult subject for her family, but having spent more than 20 years caring for ill family members, including her husband with a stroke and relatives with cancer, she has witnessed several deaths firsthand and now feels more at ease talking about it.<\/p>\n
She said she liked the fair because “it\u2019s not just about dying well. It\u2019s also about the present moment and taking good care of our lives while we\u2019re still here.”<\/p>\n
The event brought together experts and organisations involved in health care, financial planning, palliative care, funeral services and memorial innovations. Activities and talks focused not only on preparing for death but also on maintaining quality of life until the final days.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeath involves everybody. It\u2019s not just about you,” said Zcongklod Bangyikhan, editor-in-chief of The Cloud magazine and one of the event\u2019s lead organisers. “Instead of wondering what dying will be like, maybe we should think about how to make things easier for the people who remain after we\u2019re gone.”<\/p>\n
One popular exhibit is called “Test Die”. Visitors can lie inside coffins of different sizes and styles while looking at themselves in a mirror suspended above. The experience is designed to prompt reflection rather than fear.<\/p>\n
Office worker Phinutda Seehad said it felt calming.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think I\u2019m scared of death,” she said. “I also don\u2019t want to die, but when the time comes, I don\u2019t think it will be that frightening.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A visitor lies inside a coffin made of mycelium, the rootlike fibres of fungi, at Death Fest in Nonthaburi, Thailand. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
One company displayed a biodegradable coffin made from mycelium \u2014 the rootlike fibres of fungi \u2014 which helps naturally with decomposition.<\/p>\n
Founder Jirawan Kumsao said the design reflects a more environmentally friendly approach to burial. Although she brought a human-sized coffin to the event, her company mainly produces coffins for pets.<\/p>\n
“It gives people comfort to know they\u2019ve cared for their pets until the very end,” she said. “It looks like a spacecraft, a capsule, for sending them to another world.”<\/p>\n
Noppasaward Panyajaray, founder of the online memorial platform Sharesouls, has seen a similar emotional bond. Her service allows users to store photos and share stories about loved ones, creating a digital space where friends and family can leave messages and pay their respects.<\/p>\n
She said her original idea was for the platform to preserve memories of family members. But she was surprised to find that many users were creating memorial pages for their pets.<\/p>\n
“Many people sent me a message to say thank you, because nowadays we don\u2019t really have any space to store stories or memories about their pets,” she said. “Every pet is meaningful to their owners as much as a family member.”<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a winter boost for hospital staffing, and the star who went from the Oscars to a burger joint. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thailand’s Death Fest invites people to confront mortality while also offering practical services and spiritual advice for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2300,134,527,111,139,69,550],"class_list":["post-339140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-asia","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-social-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}