As already posted earlier today, today is Asanha Bucha Day, one of the major Theravada Buddhist festivals in the region.
All day long there were activities in Wat Plai Laem or the local Temple, which is also for this occasion the major temple with the main event on the island. This also meant that all day long Monk chants could be heard over the PA system.
Tomorrow there's more when Wan Kao Pansa hits town or rather Thailand.
Around 7 pm the main ceremony of the day starts, when people meet at the Temple and sit down for religious ceremonies and eventually everybody walks around the Bot for 3 times.There were lots of unusual activities to be witnessed, but I guess they're unusual for the non Thais and/or non Buddhist oriented folks.
One of them is shown in the picture above, it shows a string with money tacked to it, as part of the Tambun or repentance.
To get connected with Buddha, people have white strings attached to an intricate woven system that leads back to the altar. The white strings attach to another coloured string which they put around their head.
This looks familiar and I may have shown this in a previous post, but this is melted candle wax which is put into pre shaped molds so new candles can be made by the visitors of the Temple tonight.
Flowers and money are offered before they sit down and join the worshipping.
The highlight of the evening, walking around the Bot for three times. A continual busy location that Bot from 7 pm onwards. An interesting event and nice to see again, since for the last couple of years I somehow wasn't able to make it to the temple for various reasons.
Camille
0 comments:
Post a Comment