By Paul Rujopakarn

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - Local media outlets have reported subdued Makha Bucha activity this year.

 

Many people have opted to prepare their own set of monk offerings, rather than buying pre-made offerings from vendors. Vendors have meanwhile reduced their supplies in anticipation of suppressed consumer spending.

 

It is customary in Thailand to visit temples, make merit, attend sermons and perform good deeds to celebrate the gathering held between the Lord Buddha and 1,250 of his first disciples. Giving monks offerings is also a major part of the celebration.

 

More and more people are favoring saving over spending and only making purchases on essential items.

 

Vendors are currently selling monk-offering baskets at around 100 to 300 baht each, with many blaming low sales on the economic downturn caused by the global pandemic. New COVID cases - fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant - are further discouraging people from performing religious activities outdoors.

 

One major Makha Bucha activity is the candle-lit circumambulation rite, which usually involves a mass gathering that puts participants at risk of contracting COVID-19.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-02-16

 

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4 hours ago, webfact said:

Local media outlets have reported subdued Makha Bucha activity this year.

Must be the sobriety kicking in?

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Local media outlets have reported subdued Makha Bucha activity this year.

Must be because the bars have been closed...????

The Swedish bar next door to me was partying boisterously long into the night. I taped lots of it but don't know how to download it from my phone to play back on my car radio.

Stonking it down with rain all day dampened my merit making ????

For not religious people its a holiday (with chance of extension to sunday 20th), yet motorways are empty and pictures show empty beaches. 
Possibly folks are saving their holidays for songkran in 2 months time. 
Ban on alcohol dumpens holiday spirit and partying