Soon be time...

[fabianfred]

For those of you living or visiting the North of Thailand.

I don't know about other parts of Thailand since I spent all my 21 years living in Chiangmai province.

We are coming towards (next month) the end of the three-month pansaa rains-retreat.

Temples hold a couple of large merit-making festivals each year and the coming one is the biggest.

Virtually every temple, apart from forest ones, at this time of year, September and October, each hold a festival they call 'Salaak-a-pat'. At the festival the local people come early in the morning with baskets of offerings, then go home for breakfast, then return to the temple for a day of fun.

Every temple in the district has a day. It is up to each tambon to choose which day so that temples in a tambon do not clash their dates. Since there are many tambons in a district there might be several temples on the same date having their festival. Lists are usually put up at each temple,or the abbot can be asked, so that lay people can visit other temple's salaak-a-pat.

Most temples, or schools, or communities, have dance troupes which will certainly attend their own temples festival, but also go to dance at other temples in the tambon or district. Dancing usually starts about 8.30 to 9 am and continues until all visiting teams have done their stuff....usually by mid-day. By 1 pm its all over and done with...

Monks and novices also get invited to other temples festivals.

You will see villagers with large money trees and some have fruit in baskets and other things hanging from their trees with banknotes on the top. They will sit with their tree and have a number. After their lunch, the monks and novices will be called into the main Viharn where they do some chanting to give thanks. Then a kind of lottery is held. Little pieces of plastic straw with numbered paper curled inside are mixed in an alms bowl and each monk and novice get to pick one. This gives them their (lottery) number. When the ceremony is over they all go out to find the person with the money tree of the same number they have picked, sit and give a blessing, then take it home with them to their temple. Those trees with over 1000 baht in banknotes are classed as 'special' and depending upon the way the temple runs its lottery, they might give all the monks a chance at this too with many 'blind's'. (papers without a number).

The dancers get a small envelope with 20 baht for each member of their troupe after their performance.

For those of you who like to photograph people, dancers, video, etc. it is a very colourful and target rich occasion.

In the next week or so they will start, so get around and find out the list of dates and places so you can attend the ones you want. Weekends are of course popular, so there will usually be several temples in the district on each day.

ask me if you need more information... I have several sets on my Flickr and videos on my Youtube since I attend each year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28361002@N07/sets/72157627753408196/

[fabianfred]

[fabianfred]

[fabianfred]

[fabianfred]