Today, July 10th, marks the beginning of the Buddhist Lent period, or Boun Khao Phansa, which lasts for approximately three months. It’s the time when Buddhist monks return to their home temples, there to stay for the length of the period to study, meditate and reflect for spiritual renewal. It happens on the first day after the full moon of the eighth lunar month and marks the beginning of the three-month rainy season. Well, the rainy season this year seems to have begun much earlier, and it’s been raining most of the morning. It’s been raining here since June and my yard at my house has been flooded for at least the past ten days, making it difficult to go jogging in the morning without getting my shoes soaked.
Anyway, at the end of the three-month period, on Boun Ok Phansa day, Lent finishes. The day after that is the final day of the Vientiane Boat Racing festival.
I’ve posted before about the start of the Lent period here, and here. Although it’s not an official national holiday, quite a few businesses shut down, especially local small mom-and-pop vendors.
Here’s a photo, taken this morning, of Nai preparing a goodie basket for the monks at a nearby temple. Most merit-makers include sweets in their baskets. I kid Nai that he’s going to make the monks fat. But, most people, including Nai, also include cooked rice and other food, like fruit, in their offerings to the monks.
Nai has a small shrine inside the house. He lit some candles and prayed to Buddha before he left for the temple. This evening he’ll probably light a bunch of candles on the porch and add some goodies to the outside shrine he also has.
