Thailand observes Makha Bucha Day

BANGKOK, March 7 (TNA) - As previous years, Thailand observed the Makha Bucha Day 2012 on March 7, with merit makings and related activities organized by public and private Buddhist bodies throughout the country. In Bangkok, Bangkok Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra presided over an alms-giving ceremony at Sanam Luang ceremonial ground Wednesday morning, in which a huge crowd of Thai Buddhists, several dressed in white, joined to give rice and dried food to 86 Buddhists monks. On the occasion of the 2,600th anniversary of the Lord Buddha’s Enlightenment and the 2012 Makha Bucha Day, the Bangkok Metropolitan Asministration (BMA), the Council of Buddhist Organiasations of Thailand, the National Office of Buddhism, the Department of Religious Affairs and other public and private agencies jointly held the merit-making event and other activities at Sanam Luang to promote Buddhism. Participating Buddhists are also welcome to worship the imitated Emerald Buddha statue and Buddha relics being on display in the heart of the public ground, where an exhibitions on Makha Bucha Day and a mass prayer are also organized. There will be also a candle-lit parade, a ritual ceremony for declaring oneself as a Buddhist at 6 pm. Similar merit makings and other related events were also held by Buddhist Thais and agencies in all other provinces to observe the Makha Bucha Day, an auspicious full moon day of the third lunar month when 1,250 Buddhist monks, all were ordained by the Lord Buddha, came to see the Lord Buddha without any schedule, nine months after the Lord Buddha's Enlightenment. (TNA)