FOLLOWING the merit-sharing by the monks and villagers, weeping could be heard from one of the makeshift tents. The day is the one-month commemoration of the deaths caused by cyclone Nargis. The place is in one of the cyclone-ravaged villages in Labutta township in Ayeyarwady Division.

Cyclone Nargis hit the low-lying delta area on May 2 and 3, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or missing, drowning millions of farm animals, washing away properties and leaving survivors only with the clothes on their backs.

But according to the Myanmar calendar, which most of the villagers follow, May 31 marked exactly one month since the disaster, and some villagers decided to perform the traditional Buddhist rituals for the loved ones they had lost.

“We could not do it when they died, or on the seventh day after their death. We could not even bury them properly. So we decided to perform the one-month commemoration according to Buddhist tradition,” said Ko Myint of Kokko village. He lost all his family in the storm.

Survivors in the village gathered under the makeshift roof the ordination hall, situated on what used to be the compound of the village monastery, giving alms to monks and sharing the merit with their loved ones.

“This is what we can do best for the dead. We’ve saved what we have and donated the alms to the monks and shared the merit with the deceased so that they can have a better and more peaceful life,” he said.

According to Buddhist tradition, on the sixth day after a person’s death a monk will deliver a sermon at the home of the departed. On the seventh day, alms are offered to three or five monks at the home to transfer more merit to the departed.

The alms-giving is repeated one month and three months after the death, and on the first anniversary.

Buddhists believe in samsara (the cycle of death and birth, leading to nibbana), and they believe alms-giving on behalf of the deceased can help them to a better life.

“The village will be rebuilt and life will return to normal after one or two years, but our family members lost in the storm cannot be replaced. It is a calamity for us forever,” Ko Myint said.

A once-flourishing village of about 800 villagers, it is now home to only about 300 survivors. Homes, monasteries and the village school were reduced to rubble and mud. All the families in the village have lost family members and everything they owned.

But they are trying to rebuild their lives with what they can collect from the fields and from the rivers.

There are temporary tents but the only building materials available are the fragments of old wood and bamboo collected from the fields and riverbanks, and tarpaulins bearing the UN logo.

The villagers used the tarpaulins as roofing when rebuilding the ordination hall in the village monastery. The hall was used for the alms-giving ceremony.

“Some other villages are also performing the ceremony with what they have. That is the best way for Buddhists to help our beloved families who are now deceased in their future lives,” Ko Myint said.

He added that he hoped they would not face this terrifying fate in their coming lives.

U Aung Tha, who is now taking refuge in Labutta, is working as a carpenter in the town so that he can earn some money to make donations for his family, who died in the storm.

“My two daughters, one son and my wife were taken away by the incoming tides before my eyes. I can still hear them calling me while they were about to die. I have to make donations for my family so they can be good in their coming lives,” he said.

“I earned some money by working as the carpenter, repairing houses in Labutta that had been damaged by the storm,” U Aung Tha said.

He said it would be the last and the best thing he could do for his son, daughters and wife.

“When I have enough money, I will go back to the place where our village once stood and give alms to the monks and share the merit with my deceased family and everybody who died in the storm,” he said.

But for most of the survivors, giving alms or donating to the monks on behalf of their beloved who died in the storm is still a remote prospect, as most of them have to depend on the food supply, and are trying to survive themselves.

“I want to give alms, but how can I do it while I’m in this situation, relying on donated food?” said Ko Tun Tun, who is living in one of the refugee camps in Myaungmya.

He lost his family in the cyclone but cannot make donations as long as he is living on rationed food at the camp, with barely any money in hand.

“I will do it as soon as I can work again and have earned some money. I have to do it for them, otherwise they will also face bad things in their coming lives. I will donate and share the merits with them, maybe at the two-month commemoration, or as soon as I have some money,” Ko Tun Tun said.

Another ceremony was also held on June 2 at Labutta, presided over by the Venerable Sayadaw Chekinda, an associate professor at the International Buddhist Missionary University

“We marked the one-month memorial day for people who died in Labutta, where I have been undertaking emergency relief and rehabilitation work for storm victims,” he told The Myanmar Times.

At the ceremony, the Venerable Sayadaw Chekinda donated relief supplies to cyclone survivors, including family members of those who died.

Htoo Trading Co., Ltd and Air Bagan Ltd also marked the one-month anniversary by donating 900 baskets of rice, 80 hand tillers and 30,000 baskets of paddy seeds to two villages located about five hours by boat from Bogale.

In Kyaing Chaung Gyi village, only 500 of the 3280 residents survived. Meanwhile, the cyclone killed 1000 of the 1200 villagers in Kyun Tharyar village.

“Our Htoo rescue team is undertaking rehabilitation work in these two villages,” said U Ye Min Oo, the general manager of Htoo Trading Company and head of the Htoo rescue team.

“In accordance with traditional practices, we have invited surviving monks from these villages to perform a one-month memorial ceremony for people killed by the cyclone, on behalf of surviving family members,” he said.