Wisakha Bucha Day

Today is Wisakha Bucha Day in Thailand. It is a very important Buddhist holiday, similar to Makha Bucha Day three months ago.

I celebrated by joining four new friends that I made in Ko Samet last weekend on a trip to a temple in Nonthaburi, just outside of Bangkok. They chose to go to Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat, a very famous temple located on the western bank of the Chao Praya River and built by Rama III almost 200 years ago.

We had hoped to give a little food "care package" to the monks there, but they were busy praying, so we drove a bit to find another temple and handed over the food there. The ceremony that I watched my four friends go through consisted of putting 100 baht each into an envelope, which had their names written on it. The monk took the money and instructed my friends to burn the envelope in a small ceramic bowl. The monk and my friends then started what we called a "responsive reading" chanting something in Thai and paying respects to Buddha.

I had to leave before participating in the evening's activities, which I was told includes walking around the Chedi at the temple three times while holding lotus flowers and incense.

But I had other things on the agenda... namely seeing Matrix Reloaded on opening night...