"Khao Punsa Day"
Is on the first day after the full moon of the eighth lunar month and marks the beginning of the three month Buddhist "lent" period. The tradition of, Buddhist Lent or the annual three month rains retreat known in thai as"Punsa." Khao Punsa means to remain in one place during the rainy season. Khao Punsa day has interesting history and a lot of religious activties for people to participate.
Khao Punsa period monks should not venture out or spend the night in any other place. In the past, the farmer grow rice in this time. They believed that the monk shouldn’t come out of the temple because they afraid that the rice fields will be destroy by the monk so the monk should spend time in one temple for three mouths. Originally monks did not stay at any particular place, but were most of the time on the move in their mission to spread the Buddha's teachings. This is a time for contemplation and meditation for week.
People prepare offering such as food, monk robe, lotus flowers, buckets full of useful things, medicines, incenses and candles to donated to the monks. Then, the monks will give sermon and sprinkling lapstreak water to people for blessing. In the evening, people go to the candle wax parade called in thai “Vien Tien” to pay respect to the Buddha.
The candle wax process in Ubon Ratchathani is the most famous candle wax procession in Thailand. They are over 2 meters tall and covered with differences design. The candles are paraded around the town on colorful floats decorated with flowers. Buddhists believe that offering candles to monks as means of light will also brighten up their future.
Khao Punsa is the day that monks spend time at any temple for three months. This celebration is also known as “The Candle Fastival”, which features a procession of ornately-carved beeswax candles of various shapes and sizes.
