Teachers’ day is held in 16th
January. It was celebrated for the first time on January 16, 1957. The event has
been held since then and is held nationwide. The highlights of the day include
religious activities, a ceremony of paying respect to teachers and activities to
strengthen unity among teachers.
To express our gratitude to the teachers, we wish them and their families
happiness and a good health throughout their long life.
This important Buddhist holy day
marks the auspicious occasion when 1,250 of Lord Buddha's adherents
spontaneously congregated to hear him give a sermon. Merit-making ceremonies are
held during the day at temples throughout the country, while at night, triple
candlelit circumambulating are staged around major temples.
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Songkran is a Thai traditional New Year, which starts on 13th April and lasts till 15th April. Songkran festival on April 13 is Maha Songkran Day or the day to mark the end of the old year, April 14 is Wan Nao, which is the day after and April 15 is Wan Thaloeng Sok, which the New Year begins. At this time, people from the rural areas who are working in the city usually return home to celebrate the festival. |
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Songkran is a Thai word, which means "move" or "change place”, as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck.
The Songkran tradition is recognized as a valuable custom for the Thai community, society and religions. The value for family is to provide the opportunity for family members to gather in order to express their respects to the elders by pouring scented water onto the hands of their parents and grandparents and to present them gifts including making merits to dedicate the result to their ancestors. The elders in return wish the youngsters good luck and prosperity.
The values for community is to provide the opportunity to create unity in the community such as to jointly acquire merits, to meet each other and to enjoy the entertaining events. And for the society value is to create concern upon environment with cooperation such as to clean houses, temples, public places and official buildings. Thais value the religion bye means of merits acquisition, offerings alms to monks, Dhamma Practice, listening to sermon and monks-bathing.
In the afternoon, after performing a bathing rite for Buddha images and the monks, the celebrants both young and old, joyfully splash water on each other. The most-talked about celebration takes place in the northern province of Chiang Mai where Songkran is celebrated from April 13 to 15. During this period, people from all parts of the country flock there to enjoy the water festival, to watch the Miss Songkran Contest and the beautiful parades.|
Every
year in the six lunar month (which usually falls in May), the rural people
of northeastern Thailand hold a festival that is an unusual blend of the
sacred and the profane called Bun Bang Fai, or the "Rocket
Festival". The celebration involves placing huge homemade rockets on a 12-meter-tall bamboo launch pad, where some incredibly brave fellow lights the fuse, then scampers away before the rocket ignites and swooshes skyward at incredible speeds, hurtling |
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| across an empty farm field as spectators clap and cheer and order
another round, discussing among themselves the merits of that particular launch
for its distance, or the size and colour of the explosion. |
The precise origins of Bun Bang Fai are a matter of some debate, but it is
primarily a fertility ritual, held just before the rainy season gets underway.
It makes sense really, firing a phallic object into sky to fertilize it and
produce the rain essential to a successful rice crop and the very survival of
the people. And it works every year the rains come. Why would you tamper with
that, especially when it's so much fun?
The ritual is quite obviously borne of a simpler time before irrigation and
television, when people instinctively understood their symbiotic relations hip
with nature. The festival in the more down home parts of the country of ten
involves wandering minstrels among the crowd singing hilariously bawdy songs
about the dirty deeds that we all get up to when the mood is right.
The rocket launching itself is competitive, with prizes for the best explosion,
greatest distance, etc. The secrets of rocket making have been passed down over
the generations and refined into sophisticated, multi-chambered wonders of
pre-scientific technology. Some of these things are four or five meters long,
and fly a kilometer or more, or explode at their apogee into a spectacular and
colorful fireball.
As if this wasn’t enough, there are countless other activities (as with any
country fair) including live music, dancing and other contests.
Though
countless villages observe the celebration, on various dates and the best
organized is held in Yasothorn Province. This year the three-day blowout runs
from May 10-12.
This is the holiest of all
the auspicious Buddhist religious days, marking the birth, enlightenment, and
death of Lord Buddha. All over the country, people go to temples to listen to
sermons by revered monks and make merit. Shortly after sunset, candlelit
circumambulations take place around major temples.
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Ghost festival (Phii Takon) is a tradition culture of Dansai, Leoy Province. The children will make Phii Takon mask, making it colourfully to wear. They dress as ghosts and parade on the road as in Buddhist Story |
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Asking any Thai people what comes first to their minds about the month of
August, you might get all similar answers; it’s the month of ‘Mother’s
Day’. It is all because August is the birth month of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit,
who is regarded by Thais as the ‘Mother of the Nation’.
Since 1976, for Thai people, August 12 has not only been an auspicious occasion to celebrate the birthday anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen, but also the day on which the entire nation takes the opportunity to pay tribute to her and their loving mothers. On this day, sons and daughters give white jasmine flowers or garlands to their mothers as a symbol of the maternal love. Local Buddhists will go to the temple to give alms to the monks, a good deed done to pay homage to their passing mothers. Public and private organizations will hold many charity activities such as a fund raising for needed mothers and a visit to imprisoned mothers.
Thai people unanimously commemorate this day because of Her Majesty the Queen’s benevolence to all walks of Thai life, especially the poor and the needy in rural areas. Many projects have been created under her initiatives and supervision. In 1956 she became the President of the Thai Red Cross Society. Later on, the ‘Sai Jai Thai’ Foundation was founded to help war veterans and their families.
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Boat racing is held in Burirum Province. This festival show the way that Thai people relate to the river, after raining season (they finish farming) from August to about November that water get higher. They will do “Boat Racing” party for fun and for teamwork. |
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"Chulalongkorn Day" or "Piyamaharaj Day", which we say in Thai, is celebrated on 23rd October of every year. It is the day that our King Chulalongkorn, or King Rama V, died. He is one of our most important kings in the past. The most important thing he did is abolishing slavery but he also did many other reforms in order to modernize the country.
There is a Buddhist myth that during one Rains Retreat or "Khao Phansa" Lord Buddha went to heaven to deliver a sermon to his mother who died after giving birth to Lord Buddha (The Prince Siddharatha). And was born again in heaven. The sermon given was said to last for the entire period of the Rains Retreat (3 months).
Upon completing his mission in heaven, Lord Buddha then returned to earth and was greeted by a crowd of his disciples and followers. To commemorate this event, two public festivals are held, namely; the "Tak Bat Devo" in the central region and the "Chak Phra" in the south. Both portray the event of Lord Buddha's return to earth and annually take place immediately after the end o f the 3-months Rains Retreat. However, the celebration of these two festivals may be different in its preparation and practices. In other words, Tak Bat Devo means "offering of food to Buddhist monks". The celebration is an imitation of Lord Buddha's descent from heaven. Thus, a high place such as the hill is preferably used as a starting point, the Golden Mount of Wat Sraker in Bangkok is a good example of this. But for the temple built far away from the hill, the consecrated assembly hall (or Uposatha) can also be used as a starting point.
When all is ready, the row of Buddhist monks, headed by the image of a standing Buddha carried by men representing God Indra ad God Brahma, will move slowly along the path arranged in advance. People then offer a variety of food and fruit to the passing monks. The rite ends when the last monk in the row finishes the entire route.
Meanwhile, Chak Phra literally means "pulling of the Buddhist monks" and it is celebrated in many southern provinces such as Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Phatthalung, Songkhla, and Yala. The most impressive Chak Phra festival is on the Tapi River in Surat Thani Province. To mark this occasion, two float-pulling ceremonies are held one on land and the other on water. On land, the participants of the ceremony pull the splendidly adorned floats across the town. At the same time, on water, a float decorated in colourful Thai design of a float made to carry the Buddha image highlights the ceremony. This float is then towed to the middle of the river for a religious ceremony. On the following day, the float carrying t he Buddha image is towed along the river so that river so that people can worship and make merit. Both land and river events are highly colourful. The Chak Phra festival then concludes with an exciting boat race and a traditional game.
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great was born on December 5, 1927 to Prince Mahidol of Songkhla and Mom Sangwan. His Majesty is the ninth King of the Chakri Dynasty and the longest-reigning monarch in the history of Thailand. His Majesty the King is well recognized as the heart and soul of the Thai nation. He is held in the high esteem not only by his own subjects, but His Majesty also commands enormous respect from people in all parts of the world. Everywhere he goes people turn up to greet him in hundreds of thousands. The manner in which His Majesty conducts himself, giving his whole heart and attention to the people, immediately linked the living symbol of the nation to the people in a bond of matual understanding and personal affection.
On his birthday, which is observed as a National Holiday, all his subjects rejoice in demonstrating once more their affection and loyalty to him. Religious rites are held houses and buildings are decorated with flags, lights and his portraits. The whole nation prays to the Holy Triple Gem and all the sacred things in the universe to bless
His Majesty with good health and happiness and the strength to carry on his onerous task.
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December 10 marks the Constitution Day,
which is held annually to commemorate the advent of the regime of
Constitutional Monarchy in Thailand. Previously, the government
of Thailand was an absolute monarchy until June 24, |
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intellectuals educated abroad and inspired by the concept of western
democratic procedures. The group, which was known as “People’s Party or
Khana Rasdr”, was led by Luang Pradit Manudharm (Pridi Panomyong). To avoid
bloodshed, King Rama VII graciously agreed to abolish absolute monarchy and
handed over the country's first "Permanent" Constitution. In fact,
King Rama VII (King Prajadhipok) had prepared, even before being asked, to hand
over his powers to the people.
Even though the Revolution of 1932 brought an end to the centuries old absolute monarchy, the reverence of the Thai people towards their kings has not been diminished by this change.
Portraits of Thai kings are prominently displayed
throughout the kingdom. On Constitution Day, the entire nation is
greeted with festivity. The government offices, private buildings and most
high-rises are decorated with national flags and bunting and are brightly
illuminated. On this day, all Thai citizens jointly express their gratitude to
the king who graciously granted them an opportunity to take part in governing
the country.
