Over 17 million Buddhists join in New Year prayers

BANGKOK, Jan 2 (TNA) - Besides a countdown in celebrating the New Year 2015 which is a popular activity in Thailand, more than 17 million devout Buddhists on late December 31 joined the chanting of monks prayers in celebration at temples throughout the country, the Ministry of Culture said. The so-called "cross year" prayers started at about 11.00 p.m. on December 31 and finished at almost 1.00 a.m. on New Year’s Day. This year, the number of Buddhists, participating in the event exceeded that of last year, which totaled over five million by more than three times, the announcement said. It said 798,500 persons joined in the ceremonies held at 204 temples in Bangkok while about 16.7 million of prayers participated at 11,160 temples, religious centres and at national parks in the rest of 76 provinces in the country. (TNA)