Asarnha Bucha

Asarnha Bucha and

The Start of Buddhist Lent

Asarnha Bucha Day is a Theraveda Buddhist observance that commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon. It is a public holiday in Thailand, celebrated on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, the day the Buddha delivered the sermon. This year it was on July 11^th.  Since schools are closed on public holidays, our school celebrated the day before.

Asarnha Bucha is observed by praying, listening to sermons, and bringing gifts to temples. The students and teachers at our school worked hard to prepare two large candles and two money trees, to be delivered to two temples in our district. Here they are on the day before the event.

In the morning, the candles were loaded onto pickup trucks, to be driven through the village as a mini-parade before being delivered.

Children in traditional Thai costumes or other finery rode on the trucks too. As you can see, the little girl second from right in the first photo (below, left) wasn’t happy about her starring role in the parade; she pouted the entire time. It was hot -- who could blame her.

Boys with drums rode in a third pickup truck.

 The trucks were driven slowly along the village streets, with students walking along beside. I rode in one of the pickup trucks . I offered to walk with the students but was told in no uncertain terms to stay in the vehicle. I’m not sure whether this was out of consideration for my advanced age or, possibly, because I might have drawn attention away from the students. Carrying branches to add to the money trees, they stopped at houses and stores along the way asking for donations. Usually these came in the form of 20-baht bills inserted into the slots in the branches, but occasionally there were larger bills as well.

After the village had been thoroughly canvassed, it was time to deliver the candles and money. One delivery was to Wat Trakam-en, the temple for our Tambon (a subdivision of a district).  Here are pictures of students kneeling with gifts and offering gifts to monks.

After the gifts had been presented and the monk had chanted prayers, we counted the money from the money tree.  It came to more than 10,000 baht. My co-teacher told me that the monk returned the money to the students, for the school. Of course the students were very proud and gratified.

Next, the second candle and the other money tree were delivered to Wat Rang Krathai – the temple with the bunnies out in front, adjacent to our school.  Here are a couple of pictures of students kneeling to offer the gifts. You can see that the walls of the temple are brightly painted with images from the life of the Buddha – one of the more colorful and beautiful temple interiors I’ve seen.

This time, I didn’t stay to help count the money. Again, the funds were returned to the students, for the school, in what is apparently an annual tradition, one that creates a strong sense of belonging and, no doubt, loyalty to both the school and the temple.