Buddhists celebrate Vesak Day in Thailand

BANGKOK, May 13 (TNA) – Thai and foreign Buddhists joined alms-giving ceremonies and merit-making activities held nationwide to mark Vesak Day Tuesday. Vesak Day is celebrated in Buddhist countries to commemorate the birthday of Lord Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. Thais celebrate the day by visiting local temple to give monks food, candle and flowers and practice Dhama in the morning and attending a “wein thien” or a candlelit ceremony at a temple in the evening. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration this morning organized an event at Sanam Luang ground where Thai and foreign Buddhists gave alms to 232 Buddhist monks. The activity was also aimed at making merits and extending best wishes to Their Majesties the King and the Queen on the occasions of their 87th and 82nd birthday anniversaries this year. In the northern province of Chiang Mai, Buddhists and tourists gave alms to 400 monks and novices from Wat Sri Soda temple at the foot of Doi Suthep mountain. In Phitsanolok province, crowds of people worshipped revered Buddha image Phra Buddha Chinnarat and participated in candle-lit processions at Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat Woramahawihan temple. In Tak province in the West, an alms-giving ceremony was conducted on the Thai-Myanmar friendship bridge where 199 monks lined up to receive alms from Thai and Myanmar people who joined the event. In Nakhon Phanom province in the Northeast, Thai and Lao people gave alms including glutinous rice to 88 monks on a road beside the Mekong River. Local temples were also crowded with Thai and Lao people as well as foreign tourists coming to make merits. In violence-plagued southern province of Yala, the commander of the 4th Army and the provincial governor led about 500 soldiers, police, government officials and villagers to give alms to monks amid tight security. In Narathiwat province, police, soldiers and villagers joined an alms-giving ceremony at the Krom Luang Narathiwat Rajanagarind Park and prayed for the peaceful spirits of victims of violent incidents and for the restoration of peace in Thailand’s far South. (TNA)