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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. July 19, 2005 In preparation of Buddhist Lent INTRODUCTION

TEACHERS This is the kind of material teachers often ask for as it deals with an important traditional Thai annual event. It is therefore something students can easily read and understand and it is also something they can learn to speak about – especially useful for conversations with foreign visitors. You will notice that I have produced quite a long vocabulary list, probably much longer than is strictly needed. The reason is: 1. some students may not know all of it; and 2. the list can be used to generate speaking practice. Students can be asked to use words from the list to describe Buddhist Lent and the floral merit-making festival in Sarabari. Alternatively, you can have the students concentrate on how the story was organised and written. I have included a short summary of the organisation, but you could have students do this by themselves, going through the story paragraph by paragraph. STUDENTS Buddhist Lent is here and this is a good story to get you prepared. In it, you will find much information to use if a tourist ever asks you about this three-month season of the year. If you are a Buddhist, you will be able to imagine much of what is described from your own experience. If you are a non-Buddhist, you can learn about the traditions surrounding this important religious event. So there is something for everyone. This is the kind of story that you might want to write someday. Notice how the writer has organised the information. First, there is an explanation of Buddhist Lent and what it means for monks and for ordinary people. It also introduces the theme of flowers that is used throughout the story. The writer quickly takes us to Saraburi where the story takes place. There is a short description of the province and the flowers that bloom at the time of Buddhist Lent. We then move to the Phra Phuttabat district of the province and the floral merit-making festival. You will find out how the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) has become involved and you will find out what happens during the morning of Buddhist Lent. The story ends with an explanation of the significance of the festival and details of its location, plus dates and what you can expect to see.

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST Marking the start of Buddhist Lent with flowers NILUBOL PORNPITAGPAN Buddhist monks line up for a flower offerings at Phra Phutthabat temple in Saraburi province, north of Bangkok.— CHAI LALIT Buddhist Lent, the three-month retreat into monkhood every rainy season, is just around the corner. It signals a time when monks remain in monasteries to concentrate on Buddha’s teachings. But for laymen and adventure travellers, it’s time to explore the lush wild greenery across the country brought about by monsoon rain. It’s also that time of year when flowers are in full bloom. In Saraburi, 108 kilometres north of Bangkok, famous for its limestone cliffs and mountains, the residents there know it’s time to admire many kinds of hong hern blossoms growing on those hills. The blossoms of hong hern or dok khao pansa (Globba winiti) signal the arrival of Lent season. As the Phra Phutthabat District of Saraburi is also famous for the footprint of Lord Buddha, local residents see the flowers as a perfect offering when paying homage to the sacred footprint and mark the beginning of the annual monk retreat. The practice has kept an old tradition alive. As we all know, Buddhism and flowers go hand in hand. The Buddha was born under the shade of a gustavia tree and attained enlightenment under the bo tree. With the tourism boom in the past decade, Saraburi's Tak Bat Dok Mai (Floral Merit-Making Festival) is now an integral part of the tourist calendar, pulling in more and more visitors to the province. In recent years, the provincial administration, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and private sectors have joined forces and added floral procession and other shows to make the annual festival more colourful and exciting. Some villagers climb the mountains to pick hong hern flowers and arrange them in small bunches for sale in the temple compound, especially to merit-makers who can’t find the time to go fetch the flower themselves. The hong hern, which means dancing swan, comes in various shades of yellow, orange, white and red, but rarest is the purple which is believed to bring more merit to those offering them. The morning of the Buddhist Lent starts with alms-giving to monks, which includes food, candles and joss sticks. In the afternoon, Buddhists bring hong hern and other flowers for another round of merit-making. Villagers stand in long lines on both sides of the path leading the stairs of Wat Phra Phutthabat temple which houses the sacred footprint. More than 100 monks and novices then walk in line to receive the flowers in their alm bowls and walk up the stairs to pay homage to the footprint. They then descend via another set of stairs at the back of the temple where villagers sit waiting with bowls of water to pour over the feet of passing monks in a mark of cleansing of the mind and soul. Phra Phutthabat homage-paying festival goes back to the time when Lord Buddha’s footprint was first found during the reign of King Songtham of Ayutthaya, who regularly paid homage to the footprint from 1620–1628. Since then, succeeding kings and Thai people have made it an annual merit-making rite. This year, Tak Bat Dok Mai Festival at Wat Phra Phutthabat located in Tambon Khun Khon, Phra Phutthabat District, Saraburi, will be held from July 20 to 22. On the first day, the festival will kick off at 5pm with a floral procession and cultural performances, followed by a round of flower merit-making. Two rounds of such ritual are set for each of the next two days – at 10am and 3pm. Throughout the festival, there will be an exhibition of hong hern flowers and cultural shows, as well as a sale of OTOP products. monastery a building in which monks live and worship laymen people who are members of a religious organisation but who are not specially trained; ordinary worshippers footprint the mark made by a person’s or animal’s foot residents people who live in an area pay homage to to show deep respect for sacred considered to be holy and deserving respect retreat a period of time used to pray and study, away from normal activities or duties attained achieved enlightenment deep understanding integral necessary and important procession a line of people who are all walking or travelling in the same direct fetch to get something joss sticks thin wooden sticks covered with a slow-burning and pleasant smelling substance novices descend to go down cleansing making something completely clean or pure annual happening every year rite a religious ceremony kick off to start; to begin • This lesson is adapted from the Bangkok Post’s You Can Read website. For more inspiring lesson ideas, log on to www.bangkokpost.com/youcanread. Read our other learner centre columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2005 | Last modified: July 25, 2005