FACES & PLACES
PHOTO AND TEXT BY KARNJANA KARNJANATAWE
This old woman was selling khao phansa flowers for use in a merit-making rite held recently at Wat Phra Phutthabaht, Saraburi.
The ceremony is to mark Khao Phansa, the beginning of the Buddhist equivalent of Lent, a period of roughly three months during which monks are traditionally confined to the precincts of their temple.
Saraburi people have named this tiny flower after the holy day, but in other parts of the country it is called hong hern (Globba winitii) since it resembles a swan (hong) in full flight. Most vendors that day were offering the yellow kind, although some white and purple blooms were to be found, too.
For a mere 40 baht, I got nine flowers plus nine little candles and 27 sticks of incense - the three elements of the traditional offering made to monks on Khao Phansa. More than 200 monks and novices had turned up for the ceremony.
After placing their offering in the begging bowl of one of the monks filing past, some of the laity would bend down to ritually wash that monk's feet.
The procession ended in the temple's mondop, a beautiful square building with a seven-tiered tile roof where a larger-than-life-size replica of a footprint of the Buddha is enshrined.
- Meeting locals makes your travels even more enriching. If you have interesting photos of such people and a memorable experience to share with other readers, email them to pongpetm@bangkokpost.co.th.
The photos must be sent as jpeg files (at least 1MB in size), and the text as document files. Horizons reserves the right to select and publish the photographs.
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