I just came back from the temple, having my new motor scooter blessed. Interesting ceremony; the Monk and his acolytes walk around the bike a few times, then the head Monk dabs some sort of holy mud paste (I'm guessing it's made from
Thanaka in intricate designs on the front of the bike, then while chanting Buddhist sutra, splashes both me and the bike with water from a golden dish using a long brush made of grasses. The whole ceremony took about 8-10 minutes, finishing with the Monk tying a thick pure white cotton rope around the steering post of the bike, and another thin one around my wrist, tying in all the blessings and good luck, keeping it within a sacred circle. These are never supposed to be 'cut' off, but can be removed after a while by wetting the string and gently stretching it. I'm a Philosophical Taoist, and as such we don't have ceremony (Religious Taoists do, and I'm jealous...) so I thought I'd 'borrow' the Buddhist ceremony for my new toy.
Stitchawl