A further memorial service is held in the late afternoon and in the early evening the ceremonial and symbolic first lighting of the funeral pyre is held. As the Royal Family pay their last respects and place sandalwood flowers on the pyre, preceded by the buglers playing the Last Post, the 1st and 3rd Battalions, 1st Infantry Regiment "King's Own Bodyguards", and the 5th Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, King's Guard all mount one last Royal Salute, followed by a three-volley rifle salute and the gun salute as the band plays Phayasok one final time. Designated areas around Bangkok and nationwide offer the general public and tourists to place the traditional sandalwood flower wreaths as a sign of remembrance while the honor guards march off the crematorium area. At around 10pm the cremation proper starts as the urn or coffin of the deceased is transferred, since 2008, to the hydraulic tappet pyre east of the funeral pyre for cremation while the outer covering of the urn is removed beforehand. At this time, to mark the end of the mourning period traditional Thai dances and opera are performed (a tradition reinstated in 1995).
