Thailand’s “Death Fest,” now in its second year, invited visitors in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok to confront mortality through a Buddhist-themed fair that also offered practical services and spiritual advice for what comes next.
The three-day event, held on Friday as part of the fair, brought together experts and organizations 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.
In the Buddhist context, organizers linked the fair to teachings that describe life’s unavoidable sufferings, including birth, old age, sickness and death. For attendees, the goal was to approach an uncomfortable topic with reflection rather than avoidance.
Sangduan Ngamvinijaroon attended the event with her mother, and said death used to be difficult for her family. She said that after 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.
Ngamvinijaroon said she liked the fair because “it’s not just about dying well. It’s also about the present moment and taking good care of our lives while we’re still here.”
Zcongklod Bangyikhan, editor-in-chief of The Cloud magazine and one of the event’s lead organizers, said death is something everyone must face. “Death involves everybody. It’s not just about you,” he said, adding that instead of wondering what dying will be like, people should think about how to make things easier for those who remain after someone is gone.
One popular exhibit at the fair is called “Test Die.” Visitors can lie inside coffins of different sizes and styles while looking at themselves in a mirror suspended above, in an experience designed to prompt reflection rather than fear.
An office worker, Phinutda Seehad, said the exhibit felt calming. “I don’t think I’m scared of death,” she said, adding that while she does not want to die, she does not think it will be that frightening when the time comes.
The fair also featured funeral and memorial innovations, including a display of a biodegradable coffin made from mycelium, described as helping naturally with decomposition. Founder Jirawan Kumsao said the design reflects a more environmentally friendly approach to burial, and she said her company mainly produces coffins for pets.
Kumsao said, “It gives people comfort to know they’ve cared for their pets until the very end,” and described the coffins as “It looks like a spacecraft, a capsule, for sending them to another world.”
Another service shown at the fair came from Sharesouls, an online memorial platform founded by Noppasaward Panyajaray. She said the 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.
Panyajaray said her original idea was for the platform to preserve memories of family members, but she was surprised to find that many users were also creating memorial pages for pets. “Many people sent me a message to say thank you, because nowadays we don’t really have any space to store stories or memories about their pets,” she said, adding, “Every pet is meaningful to their owners as much as a family member.”