Two major Buddhist holidays are celebrated in Thailand in July. The first, Asanha Bucha or Dharma Day, occurs on the night of the eighth full moon of the lunar calendar, which this year fell on July 8. The second, Vassa or Buddhist Lent, begins on the first day of the waning moon, i.e., the day after Asanha Bucha. In celebration of these holidays, Ubon Rathcathani, a province in northeastern Thailand on the Laos border that is 500 miles northeast of Samui (unfortunately there is no direct air service), 300 miles east-northeast of Bangkok and 300 miles north of Phnom Penh, hosts a multi-day candle festival.
Asanha Bucha celebrates Buddha’s first sermon to his followers in which he laid out the four noble truths:
- There is pain and suffering;
- Pain and suffering are caused by craving;
- There is a state (nirvana) beyond pain, suffering and craving;
- The way to nirvana — liberation from the painful cycle of rebirth — is via the eightfold path.
The eightfold path sets forth the following practices that collectively are symbolized by the eight-spoked Dharma Wheel:
- Right View: our actions have consequences, death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs have also consequences after death;
- Right Resolve: the giving up of home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant (beggar) in order to follow the path;
- Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him, speak only that which leads to salvation;
- Right Conduct: no killing or injuring, no taking what is not given, no sexual acts;
- Right Livelihood: beg to feed, but only possess what is essential to sustain life;
- Right Effort: guard against sensual thoughts to prevent unwholesome states that disrupt meditation;
- Right Mindfulness: never be absent-minded, be conscious of what you are doing;
- Right “Samadhi”: practice the four stages of meditation that culminate in the unification of the mind.
During the Lenten period, which extends for three months, the Buddhist monks remain in their monasteries and many engage in intense meditation. At the start of Lent, the devout donate items for the monks to use including candles to light the temples. While celebrations occur throughout the kingdom, the festival in Ubon Rathcathani is preeminent. As is usual with such an event, the streets are replete with vendors of food, souvenirs, and assorted other items. On the first day of Buddhist Lent there is a large parade through the downtown streets and many floats remain in the city for a couple of days after the parade for people to view up close.
We went into Ubon city on the afternoon of July 8, Asanha Bucha Day, to watch the final construction of the floats, primarily the attachment of the tallest elements on them, and the staging for the following day’s parade. The floats were created by various towns, temples and civic groups and all contained giant candles as well as wax sculptures of scenes from Buddhist mythology. While orange wax was predominate, yellow, black, white, green and gold waxes were also used. Indeed, most of my favorites used waxes of multiple colors and incorporated fresh flowers in the design. Reflecting the large agricultural sector in Ubon, most floats were towed by tractors (primarily Kubotas but also a couple of Yanmars) and pickup trucks pulled the rest. Many of the completed floats were taller than the overhead phone and electric wires, so men with large bamboo poles preceded them down the street to lift the wires so that the floats could safely pass.
While downtown, we purchased food and snacks from many of the vendors — hard to ever go hungry in Thailand. We walked through Thung Si Mueang, a park in the center of the city whose main fountain was painted in gold to match the candles. A statue of King Chulalongkorn, or Rama V — the fifth king of the Chakri dynasty, also has a prominent position in the park. Rama V reigned from 1868 until his death in 1910 and he is credited with the modernization of Siam (Thailand). Indeed, Thailand’s top university is named after him. Pictures of the new king are slowly replacing those of his recently deceased father.
On July 9th, we arrived back in Ubon around 8 a.m. for the morning’s parade. By this time, the shaded-sides of the streets were already crowded with people, so we ended up sitting in the sun with several umbrellas to provide some relief from the sun’s rays. The parade began on time at 9 a.m. and it included civic authorities, musicians playing traditional music, people in traditional dress performing traditional Thai dances, a wonderful assortment of lovelies, and about 30 floats.
Here are pictures of many (but not all) of the beautiful, intricately carved, wax covered floats in the parade:
Soldiers formed cordons at the curbs to keep the streets open for the parade. Volunteers walked up and down the streets offering cold water and towelettes to help people keep cool while medical personnel patrolled the streets ready to provide first aid to anyone overcome by the sun and heat. The parade lasted about three hours and by the time it was over I think that my tan was at least a couple of shades darker.
More to come on other highlights of our six-day visit to Ubon Ratchathani.
Kop Khun Krab!
Khun Kurt
© 2017 Kurt Brown. All rights reserved.
An American on Samui 
Kurt, when are you going to write the book?
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